The Tale Of The Unapologetic & The Blatant
by DazzledByTheNorthman
Summary: Brian Kinney has it all; he’s young, beautiful, talented and successful. He’s a Senior Partner at Vangard Advertising and the heir apparent to the Managing Partner. Will the mysterious new arrivals change everything he thought he knew?
1. First Glimpse

The Tale Of The Unapologetic & The Blatant

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Summary: Brian Kinney has it all; he's young, beautiful, talented and successful. He's a Senior Partner at Vangard Advertising, the top advertising agency in Pittsburgh and the heir apparent to the Managing Partner. Will the mysterious new arrivals change everything he thought he knew? Story contains OFC and OMC.

BPOV

Fuck, another Monday morning and I am still hung over from a stellar weekend at Babylon. The trick I took back to the loft was actually memorable, I think he must have been a contortionist with the Cirque de Fucking Soleil, because the positions I had him in last night…Christ, I'm getting hard just thinking about his body folded like a pretzel under me. As I walk through the lobby of my building, I return the greetings of the receptionist and security with polite nods. My head feels like there's someone inside it using a sledgehammer to get out! Fuck, how many Tequila shots did I have? Deep down, I know that this is not the tequila talking; this is the good shit that I got from my pharmacologist. One hit in each nostril and I was flying; and all this time later I was now coasting in for a landing.

As I step on the elevator I press the button for my floor and lean into one of the far corners. I take a sip from the cup of French Roast coffee and hope that it will help quiet this raging bitch of a headache. What the fuck was in that shit last night? Suddenly I am pulled from my reverie of Pretzel Boy by the steady staccato of someone walking towards the elevator just as the doors start to close. I look up and realize that the person is a woman, impeccably dressed with a cool demeanor and the biggest black shades I have ever seen. Gucci. For some unknown reason, I feel compelled to lean forward and extend my hand to prevent the doors from closing. She acknowledges my chivalry with a small nod and a tight smile and stands in the corner next to the elevator panel. I revert to my corner and think .Fuck? Brian Kinney doesn't do chivalrous; Brian Fucking Kinney is an arrogant asshole! Gah, what the hell was in that shit from last night??? As the elevator ascends, I take a moment to study my fellow passenger. As my gaze pans her body I scoff in my head – "Label Whore" – I recognize the black Christian Louboutin pumps, the black Armani Privé full length cashmere wool blend coat , the Gucci shades and the kicker, a 40cm red Hermes Birkin bag with Palladium hardware! She may be a label whore, but she was a whore for only the very best. I laugh to myself; takes one to know one Kinney. Yes, I was proud to call myself a label whore! I did a mental inventory of what I was currently wearing, black Prada shoes, black Armani wool coat, black Prada suit with my favorite slate blue shirt and tie combo, black Prada shades and my pride and joy, a black Hermes briefcase with Palladium har….Fuck??? The realization that what I am wearing is almost a perfect match to my elevator companion causes me to stand erect in the corner of the elevator car. I have never seen another man come close to my own impeccable taste and style in clothing, yet here, across from me stands a _woman_ who quite obviously equals me.

There is a distinct buzzing sound and the woman pulls a red Blackberry out of her coat pocket and starts texting furiously. Wait a minute…this woman walked into the elevator and obviously saw me and how I was dressed me, 'Brian Fucking Kinney God's gift to…everyone' so why is she not even acknowledging me? No surreptitious looks in the reflective surface of the elevator, no casual turn of the head to catch a glance. I am Brian Fucking Kinney, and my awesomeness needs to be acknowledged goddammit! Okay, this morning's entire inner monolog has convinced me that I need to lay of this shit the next time I go to Babylon. It's making me sound like an emo muncher! The ding sounds to indicate that we have reached our destination and the doors open onto the reception desk for Vangard Advertising. She steps out of the elevator without a backward glance, turns right and begins to walk down the hall. As I step out, turn left and begin walking to my office, I feel this strange compulsion to see her again and I turn and watch as she stalks down the hallway to an unoccupied area of our floor still texting away on her Blackberry. Hmmm, so we must have new neighbors on this floor. Maybe I'll get to see my fellow Label Whore often; it would be nice to see her style on a daily basis. My last thought before I pushed my way into my office and greeted Cynthia was 'I wonder what Label Whore is wearing under her coat?'

DPOV

Sitting in the back of the car service – I'm hit with first day butterflies. Yes, I'm excited about this new job, but still iffy on the move from New York City to the Pitts…I mean Pittsburgh, give the place a chance Dani, change is good. The ride from my loft apartment to the office building takes all of 11 minutes- I time it- 11 fucking minutes WITH traffic! Jesus Fucking Christ, that's shorter than the time it takes me to walk from my brownstone to the subway where I used to live in Brooklyn, which was then followed by a 30 minute ride on the subway into Manhattan followed by a 10 minute walk to my office. God, my commute has gone from about an hour to 11 fucking minutes! That's not enough time to do anything! I didn't get a chance to scroll my Blackberry to check my email, look at my portfolio before the markets open, check the Nikkei, the Hang Seng, nothing.

The driver speaking wakes me from my momentary lull; "Miss O'Hara, we're here". I nod my thanks and gather my bag to exit the car. Before I can even reach for the handle, the door is wrenched open and the driver is extending his hand to me. As he assists me out of the car, I resist the urge to cackle at how fucking ridiculous this is – just a week ago I was wedged up against my fellow commuters on the subway occasionally getting my ass 'accidentally' brushed (okay deliberately groped) by some pervert, today, my driver Charles (not Charlie, mind you, but CHARLES) is assisting me from a black Lincoln town-car. I have got to conference the guys in NYC later and tell them about this latest development; they are all getting kicks out of all my 'Tales from the Pitts' as they call my daily rants about what I see here vs. how it is in NYC. "So, Ms. O'Hara, please call me when you are ready to be picked up this evening, you have my number, correct?" Charles asks, as he closes my door and turns back towards me. "Yes, Charles, I do and I will call you when I am ready. Thank You". He gives me a small smile and then tips the brim of his cap (Yeah, he tipped the brim of his fucking chauffeur cap!!) wishes me a pleasant day, gets back in the car and drives away.

As I stand there in front of my new office building I'm sure I must still be in bed back in Brooklyn having one of the craziest dreams EVAH! That has to be it. I must have gone to Webster Hall with the guys and we must have gotten some sweet shit, because why else would I be dreaming about Charlie and the Pitts?? I laugh out loud at this and decide that this is how I will now refer to what I know now is no dream, this is reality…I Daniella O'Hara, have moved from my cushy job in Manhattan to the uncertainty and tameness that is the Pitts – Pittsburgh. Well, it's now or never Dani, I tell myself. I square my shoulders, put on my NY bitch face – you know the one that says 'I am better than you and I know it so do not deign to approach or speak to me' and proceed into the lobby of the 7story building. I try very hard not to think about the fact my last office was on the 51st floor of one of the most recognizable buildings in the world. This is definitely not Madison Avenue! 'Change Is Good, Change Is Good!' I mentally recite my new mantra as I cross the lobby.

I am greeted by warm friendly smiles and 'Good Morning Ms.' from the receptionists and security. I nod and briefly wonder where the turnstile is for me to swipe my ID to get to the elevators. Hmmm, then I notice, there is no ID swipe machine, no turnstiles, and the elevators are situated _before_ you reach the lobby reception desk! .Fuck? So I can just walk through the lobby, get on an elevator and just go up, just with a nod and a smile?? Uh, okay. I am shocked by this – after 9/11, you have to practically give a DNA sample just to gain access to any office building in NYC even if you've worked there for years and know the security guys, by name. I have gone to clubs with the security guys in my old Manhattan office building, played b-ball with them on Sundays and still when it comes to me getting into my office every morning, it's the same security routine –Hold ID card next to your face so that the Security Personnel can confirm that you match the person in the ID, proceed to the turnstile, swipe your ID, place your belongings on the conveyor belt of the x-ray machine, walk through metal detector, pick up belongings, confirm that yes, that is in fact a double headed dildo in your bag, consent to anal probe…okay I'm lying about the last 2, but do you understand why I having trouble comprehending the ease with which I can enter this building?

As I turned to the ding announcing the arrival of the elevator, I watch as a man precedes me into the car, a quick inventory of his person and I am intrigued: black Prada shoes, black Armani wool coat, black Prada shades and a black Hermes briefcase with Palladium hardware. I smile to myself, "Label Whore". Takes one to know one O'Hara. That's right, I'm a Label Whore and damn proud of it. As I follow LW to the elevator, I perform a quick mental inventory of my own ensemble - black Christian Louboutin pumps, black Armani Privé full length cashmere wool blend coat , black Prada pants suit with my favorite red dress shirt, black Gucci shades and my pride and joy, my red 40cm Hermes Birkin bag with Palladium hard….Fuck??? Christ, this is très uncanny; LW and I have very similar taste in clothing and accessories. I smirk, I certainly was not expecting someone like him here in the Pitts… I mean Pittsburgh. By this time, I am feet away as the elevator doors begin to close, suddenly a hand shoots out and the doors retract. I enter the elevator and acknowledge LW's chivalry with a nod and a tight smile and then turn to stand right in front of the elevator panel. I can feel him performing a visual sweep of my person and I inwardly smirk. Like recognizes like, Label Whores Unite! Suddenly my BB buzzes and when I pull it out of my coat pocket, I see that it's an email from my assistant with directions to my new office. The ding sounds to indicate that we have reached our destination and the doors open to the reception desk for Vangard Advertising. I step out of the elevator without a backward glance turn right and begin to walk down the hallway. My last thought before I push my way into my office and greeted Cole was 'I wonder what LW is wearing under his coat?'


	2. Surprise Surprise

The Tale Of The Unapologetic & The Blatant

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Summary: Brian Kinney has it all; he's young, beautiful, talented and successful. He's a Senior Partner at Vangard Advertising, the top advertising agency in Pittsburgh and the heir apparent to the Managing Partner. Will the mysterious new arrivals change everything he thought he knew? Story contains OFC and OMC.

BPOV

I remove my shades, put them in my coat pocket, dump my cup of coffee in the nearest trashcan and send a cursory good morning nod to my assistant Cynthia as I walk pass her desk and into my office. My messages are already on my desk, a print out of my Calendar in the center of my credenza and a cup of steaming hot French Roast is sitting on the right side of my desk along with 2 Tylenol. I smirk to myself at how well Cynthia knows me. As I remove my coat and suit jacket and hang them in the closet, I notice that Cynthia is staring at me from the door that I left ajar. I motion for her to come in and she enters, closes the door and approaches my desk. Scooby says Ruh Roh! This is not a good sign. Cynthia knows that Monday mornings are always mine to get ready for the busy week ahead with presentations and client meetings – oh, who am I fooling, she knows that I am usually coming down off of something, or hung-over and knows to block off my Calendar so that I don't have to meet with anyone or take any calls until the afternoon.

I quickly swallow the 2 pills and wash them down with my coffee – ah good the liquid gels, they'll work in no time. As Cynthia approaches, I glance down at my Calendar.

"What the Fuck, Cyn?" I exclaim.

"Okay, that's why I wanted to come in and talk to you", she says in reference to the 2 meetings which are on my Calendar for this morning – one with the Managing Partner Gardner Vance and the other which looks like a Full Senior Staff Meeting!

"When I came in this morning, Mr. Vance had already sent out the meeting requests so I accepted them and was waiting for you to come in." When I looked at Cynthia she looked rattled, which made me wonder if there was something else she was not telling me.

"Spill." I commanded and she took a deep breath and continued,

"Okay, first off, Mr. Vance sent out the meeting requests _himself_, not his EA (Executive Assistant) Hildy, like she usually does, he did them himself. Second, you need to log on to your PC to read the confidential email Mr. Vance sent to the all the Senior Staff Members."

I quickly log on and locate the email she is referring to. The email is about the upcoming staff meeting and the fact that attendance is Mandatory and that it requires full business attire. .Hell? Suddenly, I am on full alert. That shady bastard Vance has done something! I knew I was right to not trust this man! I reach into the little refrigerator under my desk and retrieve a bottle of water and swallow a quick mouthful. I look at Cynthia and raise an eyebrow; she knows what that means, it means 'tell me everything you know, saw and or have heard'.

"Okay, the door to Mr. Vance's office suite is closed, which never happens! So that means that I cannot even see Hildy, not that she would ever let on if something was up, but the fact that they are both inaccessible is not a good sign. Also, I decided to call her with some bullshit reason so that I could gauge something from her voice, but her phone just goes straight to voicemail. Also, I noticed some strange people on the other side of our floor this morning; I have a bad feeling, Bri". As much as I hate to be called Bri, Cynthia only calls me that when we are alone and especially when she is nervous. She is looking at me for guidance and reassurance, but I can give her neither because I am just as clueless as she is at this point.

"Cyn, I don't know what to tell you. I have no clue what is going on, but I believe that I am about to find out". The first meeting is in 5 minutes; I get up from desk, retrieve my leather planner and don my suit jacket. I check my reflection in the full length mirror on the inside of the closet door, smooth my hair and adjust the knot of my tie. I take a deep breath and when I turn, I tell Cynthia that I will see her in a bit and make my way to Vance's office.

The door to the suite is now open and there is Hildy smiling that fake, sickly sweet smile at me. God, I hate that smug bitch. "Good Morning, Hildy." I say pleasantly.

"Good Morning Mr. Kinney, you may go right in, Mr. Vance waiting for you." I enter the office, close the door and make myself comfortable in one of the guest chairs that sit in front of his monstrosity of a desk. It always makes me smirk when I think that the size of his desk must be him compensating for his small dick. I say nothing; I am waiting for him to make the first move. This always unnerves people who think they have a lot of power.

He huffs out a breath and asks. "So, Brian, how are you doing?"

God, this is the best opener he can come up with? "I am doing well, thank you." I do not give him an opening to segue to talk about what this meeting is really about. He tries again.

"So, I bet you're wondering about the reason for this meeting as well as the Staff meeting I have scheduled for later this morning?" I incline my head once to signal that this is true, but do not verbally acknowledge his question. If this wasn't such a serious situation, I would be content to play this battle of the wills game with him for a while. "Brian, when I first took over this company, I told you that my goal at that time was always to make it into the top Ad Firms in Pittsburg. With the Brown Athletic account which you brought in and the myriad other accounts which we have acquired over the course of the last year, we have accomplished that. My new goal is to make Vangard one of the biggest Ad Firms on the East Coast. Yes, it's a lofty goal to compete with the big boys on Madison Avenue, but with the roster of clients we already have we can at least now be considered a serious contender." He takes a breath before continuing. "For the last 2 years there have been rumors of a partner at one firm on MadAve who has been trying to implement a new concept, a concept that has intrigued me from the first time I read about it. The partner has created a department whose purpose is to re-evaluate a potential client's current product line to understand why product loyalty has changed and or declined and then find permanent solutions to improve their market share. It is a blend of market research, trend statistics analysis, consumer analysis and then segues into product redesign and re-birth. A situation arose over the last few weeks which allowed me to acquire the person who conceptualized and worked to implement this new methodology and I have brought that person and their team on to join Vangard."

Usually I have the best poker face, but even for me this was a lot to absorb all in one shot. .Fuck? Bombshell, much? "What position, will this innovator hold here at Vangard?" I ask, already knowing and dreading the answer.

"Partner." He replies and I swear that word echoes a million times like he yelled it out over the Grand Canyon.

"So, let me make sure I understand; you for the past few weeks have been wooing an addition to Vangard, a prospective partner and I, as a partner of this firm was not consulted or even informed till an hour and a half before you make the announcement and I assume introduction to the Senior Staff?" Even though I am positively seething inside, I keep my voice as level as possible refusing to inject even a modicum of emotion into it. I will not give this shady asshole the satisfaction of even beginning to know how pissed off I am.

"Yes." He accedes nervously. I can see that he is waiting for me to explode at him. I wait him out; force him even further on the defensive. Force him to show his hand. "Now, Brian, I am the Managing Partner and I do not have to get your permission to hire anyone who I think would be an asset to this Firm. Like I said, this situation happens so quickly, it was act now or lose the opportunity forever." Internally, I sigh, because I know that everything he has said is true and I would have done exactly the same thing if our roles had been reversed.

"What does the addition of this new department mean for me and my Ad team and our department?"I asked getting to the crux of the matter.

"For the most part, your role will remain unchanged except that now you will be working with the new team to make sure that the concepts you come up with go towards a longtime advertising goal more than a fad or short term push. My dream is to have the departments working in synergy and having a symbiotic relationship." Vance responds, his moment of nervousness has passed.

As I listen, I grudgingly have to admit that what he looking to do is strategic positioning of Vangard as a force to be reckoned with in the Advertising Industry. It is true that what we do as Ad Execs is to give our clients a quick fix solution, a band-aid to the problem which they currently have. They come to us when they realized that their revenue has declined this quarter over last and they want a hit to rectify that problem. We go off and come up with a slogan, or a logo, a talking Chihuahua or a pink bunny beating a drum and then voila, crisis averted, market share rises, client is happy, Vangard's coffers are filled, our reputation improves and all is right in the world. What this new partner has seen is that the client needs to be offered a more long-term solution to their problem. Hmm, that is innovative and we appear to be getting in on this before it becomes well-known in the industry. "So, what was the situation that arose that left you able to start wooing this person?" I asked.

"Well, I'm going to let them tell you at the meeting in a few minutes." He replies and he actually smirks as he says it. "Let's proceed to the conference room, shall we?" he stands, retrieves his suit jacket, and motions me towards the door. As the door opens, Hildy is waiting for him, with his leather planner. The three of us then proceed to the Executive Conference Room.

As we enter, Vance sits at the head of the table and I sit in the first chair on his right hand. Hildy sits behind him in the corner where she controls a laptop recording the attendees and minutes of the meeting. The door opens and the rest of the senior staff files in. Cynthia comes in and sits next to me. She looks at me and I give her a barely perceptible nod to let her know that all is well. I feel her let out the breath that she had obviously been holding. I've noticed that Vance has indicated that all of the senior staff sits on the same side of the conference table that I am sitting on. I see Vance look at his watch and then reach forward to the boomerang and punch in a number.

"Mr. Vance." A male baritone says in lieu of a salutation. "We just finished the video conference with Tokyo and will be in the conference room momentarily." The man continued. "Very good." Vance replies and then ends the call. Wait a minute…Tokyo…since when do we have clients in Tokyo? Ah, this new partner brought clients with them! Vance, you sly fucker! I look at him out of the corner of my eye and he nods at me, smirking again, as he confirms what I have just deduced.

The door to the conference room opens and I resist the urge to turn my head and gawk at the newcomers, but quickly scan them as they begin taking seats across from me until only the chair directly across from me, the one on Vance's immediate left remains unoccupied. A few seconds later the conference room doors closes and then I am hit by the scent of someone's perfume. It is a subtle fragrance…like peaches and freesias. I've never smelt anything like that and it makes me smile. Suddenly the man next to the empty seat smiles and turns to speak to someone, the person sits next to him and smiles at him before putting a red Hermès Ulysses Notebook along with a Blackberry on the table. A red Blackberry. I look up quickly and see that the person sitting across from me is Label Whore! Label Whore smells like peaches and freesias. Label Whore wears Prada under her coat. .Fuck?

DPOV

Well, well, well, so LW works for Vangard! Small world indeed. Now, I had the answer to my earlier question, LW wears Prada under his coat; and he wears it well. I'm laughing inside at how much we have in common for two people who up to an hour ago had never met. I pull my gaze away from LW as my assistant Cole kicks my shin. I turn to look at Vance. He is smirking like the smug fucking bastard that he is. God, how I want to knock that look off his face! I look down the table and smile at my staff before turning back to my assistant. I cross my legs and purposely kick him in the meaty area behind his calf, the show was about to begin.

"Good Morning Ladies and Gentlemen." Vance greets the full conference room table. "Today is a momentous day in the history of our Firm and I wanted to share it with you all. There will be a lot happening with us as a Firm and I wanted to tell you all directly, before the rumor mills starts swirling." Vance pauses for dramatic effect and I have to really work at not rolling my eyes at this petty little man. "In an effort to position Vangard as one of the top Ad Firms on the East Coast, I have secured a formidable addition to our family. Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming our newest Senior Partner Dani O'Hara." He says this last line with a flourish and then he does the whole Vanna White hand gesture thing, motioning to me like I am a letter on the fucking puzzle board! Have I mentioned how much I dislike this smug, pretentious twit? I have? Well let me reiterate, I hate this smug, pretentious twit! I incline my head to the people across the table, quickly gauging their reactions to Vance's announcement. I see the expected emotions; instant suspicion, dislike, uncertainty, intimidation and hmm, one unexpected one - recognition. The recognition comes from LW. It is fleeting, but I see it before he quickly replaces it with a mask of indifference and nonchalance. Now, I am definitely intrigued, LW is not just another pretty face! LW is Brian Kinney. Yeah, I did my research. I know who Brian Kinney is. He's been on my radar for a while after I saw some presentations he had put together for a few of my clients when they were shopping around…before I signed them. I had a dossier on him that was an inch thick. Why? You see, prior to the proverbial shit hitting the proverbial fan a few weeks ago, I wanted Brian Kinney as part of the new department I was building. I spoke to my superiors about it and they refused to hire an Ad Man from 'the Pitts'. Those Neanderthals wouldn't know talent if it walked up to them and shook its ass in their faces. No matter, with the deal I made with Vance, I was getting exactly what I wanted anyway and more.

I can read people very well and right now, I see that LW is trying very hard not to say something, but failing miserably. Finally he blurts out, "You're Dani O'Hara from Roosevelt & Associates?" I see that even though LW may not be on Mad Ave, he follows enough to know the Big Firms and R&A is one of the biggest in the business. This man is intriguing me more and more. He continues, "You are the youngest Junior Partner ever and the First woman to hold the title of Partner, Junior or otherwise."

I look at him, nod and say, "I presume the question that you are leaving unasked Mr. Kinney, is if I had all of that, then what the hell am I doing here, correct?" He had the decency to look chagrined but also, slightly surprised that I referred to him by name since Vance had not started on the introductions as yet. God, I was getting a kick out of this. Not even 5 minutes into Vance's grand announcement and I had already thrown things off for him. The room was silent and all of the executives on LW's side of the table were looking from him to Vance and then across the table to me. I answered my own question "I told a potential client I was wooing the truth about his company and my superiors did not agree with that, and tried to make me apologize to the client and retract what I said. I refused to do so and I quit." That was the true story if you looked at it from 50,000 feet. If you looked at all that had transpired it was so much more than that.

Kinney had obviously recovered and continued, "Word on the street was that you told Arthur Roosevelt to kiss your ass and you walked out leaving everything behind." My Team snickered at this and the tension in the room rose. I looked at Vance and the man seriously looked like he was about to pop a vein. He was trying to subtly get Kinney's attention and Kinney was studiously ignoring him. I could see right away that my initial impression of Vance as merely a figurehead was dead-on, I see now who was really steering Vangard. I was going to love working here. I sighed dramatically, put my hands on the table and leaned forward to emphasize my point and said, "Mr. Kinney, one thing you will come to know about me very quickly is that I cannot abide gossip especially if it is inaccurate and serves no purpose. That said, I told Arthur that I would not kiss anyone's ass, not even a client's and I told him that he could fuck off if he thought that I was going to let them just fire me." The room was stunned and silent and I turned to Vance's EA, Hildy, and said "Feel free to check this, they have it on record at R&A's as the meeting was recorded using the same system you are using here. Now, Mr. Kinney, as you can see by the presence of my colleagues seated to my right, all that was truly important to me was not left behind."

Tired of the games, I turned my attention to Vance, "Since we know Mr. Kinney, would you like to introduce the rest of your people, my Team and I have a video conference with London in 30 minutes." Vance is looking apoplectic by this time and Kinney is trying very hard not to smirk at this predicament as he realizes that he and I have stolen Vance's thunder. Vance takes a deep breath and begins his introduction of his various department heads beginning with Kinney who he introduces as Senior Partner and head of the Advertising and Design departments. Lastly he introduces me as Daniella O'Hara, Senior Partner and head of the Client Transformation Group. I quickly introduce my Team beginning with Cole. After my last introduction has been made, I look over to what I am still referring to as the Kinney side of the Conference table and say, "It's nice to meet you all, over the next few days, I will be scheduling various sessions with each of you to get a thorough understanding of what you do here so that my Team and I understand where our own methodology fits with your area. We have been added to your Outlook as of this morning so my EA Cole will be looking at your Calendars and will confirm your availability to meet with me." At this, Vance finally found his balls and jumped in to let Brian know that he will be scheduling a meeting for the three of us tomorrow morning to discuss the synergies of our two groups and other important things. Now, I turn to Cole and I _do _roll my eyes. He smirks at me; methinks Cole does not like the smug, pretentious twit either. I tell Vance that if he needs us for the next hour that we will be in on the Holodeck, at his puzzled look, I explain that this is what we call the AV room where we have our video-conferences and virtual meetings. He nods and smiles tightly. I am cheering like a loon inside; my goal is to see how quickly I can get that throbbing vein in the top of his forehead to burst! We all file out of the Conference Room and make our way to the Holodeck to begin our meeting with our client a London based Chocolatier. As I exit the door, I see Kinney staring at me and I acknowledge him with the same nod I gave him in the elevator this morning. He nods back and we branch off to our separate corners of the floor. As we pass the receptionist desk, Cole and I stop to introduce ourselves to the receptionist whose name we learn is Peggy. He provides her with a list of all of our Team Members names and telephone extensions and as well as a floor plan detailing each person's exact location, with Conference Rooms (and Nicknames) and other rooms clearly identified in case anyone needs to be directed to us. Since we had all been in at the crack of dawn that morning for our video conference with Tokyo, we had used the time to unpack and settle in to our various spaces. Since I now had an ensuite office, Cole now had his own half office right outside my door. We could then close the door to our entire suite when we needed a bit of privacy from the outside world. This is what we did the minute we had left the conference room.

As the Team and I reviewed what had gone on in the meeting, Angela, one of our graphic designers, says to me, "God you were trying so hard not to roll your eyes the whole time, but you lost it at the end when the Guard said 'and other important things', I almost peed myself." Ang is this fun-loving free-spirit who can also do wicked impersonations of men and when she said 'and other important things' the voice sounded so much like the Guard (that's what I had started calling Vance from the first time I met him, cause that's what he is doing with this Firm, just guarding it as opposed to doing any of the actual leg-work) that we all just burst out laughing.

"Alright, guys, eye-rolling aside, you see what we're going to be dealing with here. Remember, it's like old times, the only thing that has changed is the location, the structure and policies remain the same. You report to me and only me, you take orders and directions from me and only me unless I have specifically delegated my responsibility to someone else. Let's see how this first week plays out and we'll have our first pow-wow on Friday at 2p.m. All those appointments that we used to have on our Calendars back at the old place, for one on ones, Staff meetings etc. Cole will make sure that they are all back on the new Calendars for all of us as well as all of our client meetings and conference/video calls. So, let's meet with Basil and assure him that he will still be our number one British Chocolatier and then get ready for the last meeting of the day with Jensen Sullivan. After that, we are calling it a day folks and drinks are on me at a bar I found while I was exploring yesterday and it's within walking distance of here. Cole, please call Charles my driver and advise him that I will not need his services tonight." As soon as I said that, the laughter started up again and even I had to admit how absolutely snooty and obscene that statement sounded.

'Yes, Madam, I will let Charles know that you have found a substitute for him for the evening M'Lady." Cole intoned in the appropriately snooty, yet creepy English aristocratic voice. We all laughed louder at this, because where Ang can impersonate men's voices, Cole is the master at impersonating an accent. You would never guess that this kid was born and raised in the Boogie down Bronx. As we leave my office to make our way to the conference room, we see Vance walking towards us. The others continue to the Holodeck while Cole and I stop right in front of him. "What can I do for you, Gardner?" I ask.

"I was wondering if you had a minute to chat, actually." He replied looking pointedly at Cole. I turn to Cole who looks at his PDA and advises that we have the London call in 2 minutes and then Sullivan's right after that.

I turn back to Vance and say, "Unfortunately, the rest of the day is booked for us and then we are all leaving at 4p.m. as my Team and I have all been here since 5:30a.m. this morning with Tokyo. I am in the office by 7:30a.m. so we can 'chat' early tomorrow, just let us know what time works best for you."

"Let's do it at 9a.m., we can then segue right into the meeting with Kinney right after that." He replies. Even though I know my schedule like the back of my hand, I turn again to glance at Cole. Since Cole and I have played this game so often, he makes a big showing of navigating to tomorrow's Calendar on my BB and then says "How long are the meetings scheduled to run for?" Vance replies that the first meeting with just him and me should be scheduled for 30 minutes and the one for the 3 of us is to be scheduled for 2 hours. Cole updates my Calendar and we move around Vance and resume our walk to the Holodeck.

Taking pity on me, Cole nudges me with his elbow and says, "Christ, I'll do it for you," and then proceeds to do the biggest eye-roll known to man. Have I told you how much I love this man? No, well, let me reiterate, Cole is fuck awesome and I love him! I know that from his body language earlier that Vance was trying to be subtle about making it known that when he talks to me he doesn't want my 'lowly' EA there. Vance has a lot to learn, Cole is an important piece of my team and where I go, he goes. .story. The meeting with Basil goes well and we assure him that nothing is going to change with his level of service and that all that has changed for us it the banner that we fly under and the location to which he sends his correspondence. The call ends with him reassured and telling us that we should have our Welcome basket of fuck awesome English chocolate tomorrow morning. Perks of handling this account? All the rich milk chocolate with almonds you can eat and tomorrow I will be having my fill.

Our final meeting of the day is with Jensen Sullivan. Jensen owns a chain of the most popular Rib joints on the Eastern Seaboard. His BBQ ribs are hands down the best on the planet, they are fall off the bone juicy and tender and when you visit one of his restaurants you leave satisfied and stuffed. Jensen is a good old boy from Texas – born and raised. He is loud and obnoxious and few people like him. I am one of the few, as are the members of my Team. I love him because he's not about the bullshit; he's my kind of guy, of the 'tell me what needs to be done and let's get it done' mentality. He's been like a father figure to me from the day I met him and he's been trying to set me up with his son since that day too. His son mind you is as gay as they come, but Jensen is in serious denial. Today, he's up here doing surprise visits to a few of his restaurants here in PA and he just wanted to stop in and see us in our new digs. Jensen doesn't need reassurance from us; he knows that we will give him exactly what we agreed upon in our contract. When I explained to him what had happened with R&A, he told me to 'fuck 'em, I'm going wherever you're going' and that was that. He left R&A and moved with me, just like that a $30 million account lost from R&A.

At precisely 3p.m. my phone rings alerting me that Jensen is at the reception desk. I walk out to meet him and am immediately enveloped in a big hug and picked up and spun around. Jensen is a bear of a man, but he's a true teddy bear, he's big and gruff, but has a heart of gold and is one of the nicest people you'll ever meet.

"Whoowee, darlin', you looking good!" he says when he puts me down. The look on Peggy's face is priceless as she watches the interaction between the two of us. It is hard to not be happy and laughing around Jen, he's just a big affable man. He's wearing a black suit with cowboy boots, a cowboy hat and a bolo tie. "I like your swanky new haircut." he says as he continues to hug me. By now I can see that his booming voice and our loud laughter have drawn Vance's people out of their offices to gawk. Out of the corner of my eye I see Vance and Kinney standing outside Vance's office. I pretend not to see them and motion to Jen for us to make our way to our side of the floor.

"Everybody is here and looking forward to seeing you Jen." I say to him looking up from under his arm which is still draped around me.

"I'm looking forward to seeing all of you too, darlin'." he says. I escort him to our conference room where the Team is waiting for us. Upon seeing them, he lets out a happy 'Yeehaw' (I kid you not) that reverberates around the entire floor and they all start hugging one another. It is a happy reunion and we have a good time catching up with Jen. He tells us that he called up Arthur Roosevelt and told him that he was a 'fuckin' nincompoop' for letting me and the Team go; and that he would follow me where ever I went. He then tells us that he's going to be in Pittsburgh tonight and tomorrow and he wants us to come by one of his Rib joints this evening as his guests. As a matter of fact he's got a Cadillac Escalade limo downstairs to take us to the restaurant whenever we're ready. With that we end our meeting, power down our machines, lock our offices and call an end to our first work day. After freshening up we meet Jen back by the receptionist desk to wait for the elevator. In true Texas style, he tips his hat to Peggy and says, "You have a nice day now, Purdy Lady." We all laugh raucously and then squeeze onto the elevator and then outside and into the limo.

In no time at all we are at the restaurant knocking the drinks back, wearing full length bibs, completely covered in BBQ sauce and up to our elbows in ribs and potato salad! What an evening it was. Jen introduced us to the restaurant Manager and advised him that whenever we came here, we eat with his compliments. At the end of the evening we thank Jen for his generosity and hospitality and he hugs us all goodbye. He saves the last hug for me and he whispers in my ear, "You did good, darlin' standing by your guns, you were better than all of them stuffy a-holes at Roosevelt anyhow." I hug him hard and kiss him on the cheek and tell him how much it means to me to have him tell me that. I tell him to say hello to his wife Nancy and Jenson Jr. and he goes back to his hotel as the limo takes us back to the office building.

Since I am the only one who doesn't have a car, Cole gives me a ride home as the others drive off into the night. I've been putting off buying a car because I don't want to sell my baby – a fully restored 1964 Triumph Scrambler motorcycle. She is a sweet and badass ride and I love her. She was perfect for jaunting around Manhattan and NYC on the weekend, but here in the Pitts, not so much. Whether I sell it or not, I need to buy a car this week. I ask Cole to come with me tomorrow evening to go to the Audi dealership I saw downtown. I already know the car I want it's the Audi A5, Automatic, in solid black with black leather interior. I test drove one before we left NYC; it's a fuck awesome car and drives like a dream.

That night as I putter around my loft getting ready for the next day and then preparing for bed, I think back to the comments Kinney made about my position at R&A. Yes, my promotion made waves on Mad Ave for the very reasons that he mentioned. What he didn't know was that I brokered the deal myself. I was never one to wait around for someone to do anything for me. So, the day after I had celebrated my 5th year anniversary with Roosevelt, I scheduled a meeting with my boss and asked for a promotion. To say that he was surprised at my bold request was an understatement. To say that he was shocked that I handed him a proposal outlining all of the reasons with supporting documentation as to why I should be promoted, was putting it mildly. This man had no idea how to deal with what I had just dropped in his lap. He tried to placate me with the usual bullshit about paying my dues and seniority and account revenues etc. I responded to him, that I had addressed all 3 of those points in my proposal. He was flustered and suddenly more accommodating to the idea of taking me seriously. I told him that he could have two days to review my proposal and meet with his superiors before advising me of the outcome. Then I ended the meeting and left his office. I know what you're thinking – I'm ballsy, right? Or maybe a ball-buster? Nope, I'm an employee who's damn good at her job and who knows her worth. All that supporting documentation I gave him – every performance evaluation I had ever gotten since beginning with the Firm; each of them exemplary. Every commendation I had ever received from a client. My employees' annual appraisals of my performance as a Manager, again each of them exemplary. The descriptions of the accounts I had brought in and their worth and what our Firm's annual revenue was from these clients alone. Yes, essentially I was selling myself, but if I don't sell myself, who will? Certainly not my mouse of a boss.

The day after the meeting with my boss, I was called into the office of the Senior Partner of my Division, Mr. Arthur Roosevelt. Yeah, as in of _Roosevelt &Associates. One of those Roosevelts; yes, one of the Firm's Founding Fathers. _I was awed to be on this floor and in his office, but I refused to let it show. I was slightly intimidated, but I refused to let it show. Okay, I was scared shitless, but there was no way in hell I was going to let him know that. I say nothing; I am waiting for him to make the first move. This always unnerves people who think they have a lot of power.

He huffs out a breath and asks. "So, Ms. O'Hara, how are you?" God, this is the best opener he can come up with? "I am doing well, thank you." I do not give him an opening to segue to talk about what we both know this meeting is really about. He tries again. "So, Mr. Moss tells me that you are interested in being promoted?" I incline my head once to signal that this is true, but do not verbally acknowledge his question. In my mind, this will really be very simple, there are only 3 ways this conversation could go: 1. He will confirm that I've been promoted, 2. he will find a way to fire me, or 3. I will end up quitting if I don't like the reason he gives for not promoting me. He rests his hands on the leather blotter on his desk, steeples his fingers under his chin and looks directly at me. Right then, I knew that I had the promotion. He would not have been able to look me directly in the eye if we was about to lie to me or bullshit me. Inside, I was pumping my fist and yelling 'YES' like I was Tiger Woods and I had just won a Green Jacket! "Ms. O'Hara, when my brothers and I founded this firm, we could never had foreseen the types of strides that the world would have made in terms of technology or communications and what a tremendous impact they would have on the Ad Industry, but what we did foresee, what we strove for, what we based our reputation on is that we would have the best people in positions of leadership guiding us through whatever the world was becoming ensuring that we would do the very best for our clients and while increasing our Fir's revenue. That said, I have to say, that the proposal that you provided to Mr. Moss underscored that you have the type of leadership ability that we envisioned and that we encourage here at Roosevelt and Associates. I would therefore like to extend my congratulations to you, as our newest Junior Partner." With that pronouncement, he stood, walked around his desk and stood before me with an outstretched hand. I took his hand and we shook. He presented me with a leather binder containing my letter of Promotion signed by all of the Senior Partners, as well as particulars of what came with my new title. He motioned me to retake my seat as he retook his own.

"Ms. O'Hara, I have to tell you, that this is the first time in the History of this Firm that all of the Senior Partners have voted unanimously to promote. Even without the proposal you put together, we knew about your reputation. Your accounts and the revenue they generate speaks volumes. Your employees admire and respect you as do your peers, both here at the Firm and Industry-wide. Your clients respect and admire you as well, in fact all the Senior Partners have at some time or the other received emails, personal calls or sometimes words exchanged at a function about the way you take care of them. They talk about your professionalism, but also talk about the fact that you refuse to coddle them or tell them what they want to hear, but you tell them what they need to hear to improve. In short, they love you because you get them results and that you, as each of them tell me that you are fond of saying 'do not do bullshit'." Here he laughs and in my mind I think to myself that I have a big mouth. You know what? I wouldn't have it any other way. I tell all my clients this, it is one of my mantras right up there with 'I don't perform miracles', 'I don't do bullshit'. I won't give you any and I sure as hell won't deal with any of yours. "I also want to say, that on a personal note I was very impressed with your proposal, I have never seen anyone sell themselves quite like that before, but then again, if you don't sell yourself, who will? I also thought it fair that you should know that you were actually up for promotion and it would have been approved following your next evaluation 6 months from now. However, in light of how you have presented yourself, we decided that you be recognized immediately for your stellar contribution to the Roosevelt &b Associates family. Continue to do us proud, Ms. O'Hara." Again, he stood and came around his desk and shook my hand.

"Thank you, Mr. Roosevelt." I said to him, took his dismissal for what it was, left his office and made my way out of the building to the Park a block from my office. I called my office and asked Cole, my assistant to bring me my bag and coat, to let the others know that he and I would be at an off-site meeting for the next hour and asked him to meet me at our usual place in the park.

As I waited for Cole to meet me, I perused the details of the perks that came with the new title. First off, a healthy salary increase, not just for me, but for my Team as well! Yes! Second, the Team and I were moving to the 51st Floor! Holy Shit, you have to understand, the building has 60 floors and all of the Executives were on floors 51 through 55! I would have a bigger office with its own bathroom and small overnight room and the Team's area would be significantly bigger; our own bull pen with conference rooms, AV room, break room, pantry and recreation room. This was definitely the big leagues.

I looked up and see Cole rushing towards me with a weird look on his face and realize how this must look to him. Shit, I get called up to the big boys and then I leave the building, call Cole and ask him to bring my bag and shit to our spot in the park. Fuck! He thinks I got fired! Even though I shouldn't, I start laughing really loudly and immediately he starts grinning at me. "Jesus Fucking Christ, Dani, you scared the shit outta me!" he exclaims while throwing my coat at me. I sober up as I put my coat on and tell him what happened. Cole knew what I had done, he had helped me 'pretty up' my proposal; the right font, the right colors for the pie charts and bar graphs, gathering the most up to date revenue figures etc. He's known me long enough to not think that what I was doing was crazy and to know that if I had gotten fired that I would land on my feet.

"So…" he prodded indicating with his arms for me to give him more information now.

I decided I was already mean enough to him by inadvertently giving him the wrong impression so I said "So… you get a fat raise and you're now officially my Executive Assistant." Cole squees like a fucking fangirl and hugs me hard! I know how hard he has worked and he so fucking deserves this raise and promotion. Now that it has all sunk in, I squee like a fucking fangirl and hug him back equally as hard. He and I have been through a lot in the 10 years that we have known each other and to reach these milestones together is fuck awesome. This is what I have wanted ever since I was sitting in my first Marketing class at Baruch College and 11 short years later, here I am. I remind myself that this is only another step in implementing my career plan. There is so much more to do. The truly hard work was about to start.

Cole and I ate lunch in the park (two dirty-waters like we did every Friday afternoon) and by the time we got back to the office, the word of my promotion had spread like wild-fire and the congratulations were rolling in from co-workers and peers. I called my staff in the conference room and made the official announcement. They were genuinely happy for me and happy about their impending raises and new digs and perks. I was very proud of my Team and I told them so and I let them know that my success and ultimately theirs was a result of the efforts that we all put forth every day being the very best at what we did. We celebrated with a few bottles of Martinelli's Sparkling Apple Cider and a few slices of Black Forrest Cake. That afternoon, I met with Site Support to review the new office plan as well as IT to ensure that all of our electronics would be moved over the weekend. The Building Manager, my Team and I went up to our new digs to claim our newly assigned spaces and then the rest of the afternoon was spent packing up our belongings for the movers to take care of over the weekend. The Building Manager confirmed that our belongings and electronics etc would all be in place by Sunday at 11a.m. and the Team and I decided that we would spend a few hours on Sunday afternoon unpacking and setting up our new digs, to ensure a smooth transition for our clients Monday morning. I told them that lunch and dinner was covered. Cole took care of ordering new stationery, address labels and business cards for all of us as well as advising the Mailroom and our clients of the address change for our Group. Come Monday it would be business as usual for us. Sunday, Cole and I were in at 11a.m. and true to the Building Manager's word, all our belongings were in place. Cole and I unpacked and set up my office and got everything situated quickly and efficiently as we had labeled and boxed everything very specifically. The rest of the Team had arrived a little after us. We ordered and ate lunch as we all unpacked and by 4p.m. we looked as though we had been in our areas for years. We were settled in and we were rearing to get back to work.

I took the Team out for dinner, at one of our favorite Italian restaurants in the Village; we'd been coming there for years because the food was great. The owners know us all very well and we always get a private room in the back so that we can be as rowdy as we want to be with no worries. Dinner was spent talking about any and everything. Some of us were married, divorced, some were single, some were in school and we played catch-up with each other. We did this dinner thing once a month, as a way to strengthen our bonds; both personally and professionally. I know that it sounds like a cliché, but the 10 of us really were a family, a very close-knit and loyal family. After dinner, I went around the table singling out each and every one of them and telling them why I appreciated them and what they brought to the Team. I then gave each of them a gift. There were not the token corporate gifts, they were personal gifts; things I knew they liked and wanted but it's always that little extravagance that we would never get for ourselves. A Coach bag, a Zenga belt, tickets to see the Lion King for an entire family (grandparents included) and dinner afterwards, Tiffany necklace, Tiffany earrings, a Prada wallet, a Couple's Retreat Spa Weekend, 6 months of Ball Room Dancing lessons, and a Kenneth Cole briefcase befitting a newly promoted Executive Assistant. The gifts all went over well and I was just happy that they were all happy. My Team then presented me with their own gifts of appreciation and congratulations; an Hermès Ulysses Notebook in red leather, an Hermès Globe-Trotter Agenda Cover in vermillion goatskin each with a Tiffany Elsa Peretti Sterling Silver Pen. Yes, even my Team knows about my disease Labelwhoreitis and they assured me that these were just the things that every sexy, badass, talented, fair, cool and fuck awesome chick (you know this last one is from Cole) now newly appointed Junior Partner Ad Exec on the rise needs to get the job done! I thank them and I am stunned at just how well they know me (ALL of my accessories are in some shade of my power color red my bag, wallet, Palm Cover, BB, Coin Purse, Toiletries Case, ID Holder, Business Card Case, IPod Sleeve, Key Fob, you name it, it's in red) and I really, really loved my gifts!

I let them know that the reality of the situation was that we were going to have work harder than ever now as more would be expected of us. I would be looking to bring in more clients and work even harder to ensure that our current roster of clients knew that our level of service was not going to be negatively impacted by our Team's increase in status. They all pledged to continue giving 110% and I promised to be the same boss that had gotten us to this point. We parted ways that evening eager to begin carrying out our pledges/promises the next day.

By the time I've finished my trip down memory lane, it's 10p.m. and I decide to listen to Sarah Vaughn and fall asleep to the soothing voice singing 'Close To You'.


	3. Never Underestimate Me

The Tale Of The Unapologetic & The Blatant

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Summary: Brian Kinney has it all; he's young, beautiful, talented and successful. He's a Senior Partner at Vangard Advertising, the top advertising agency in Pittsburgh and the heir apparent to the Managing Partner. Will the mysterious new arrivals change everything he thought he knew? Story contains OFC and OMC.

DPOV

The next day, I came in at my usual 7:30a.m. and made myself a cup of French Roast coffee in our new pantry. There was nothing better than a freshly brewed cup of French Roast in the morning. It wasn't even a gourmet brand; it was Dunkin' Donuts, quite possibly the best coffee on the planet. Yeah, I'm not into the Starbucks latte shit; just give me real fucking coffee. I practically inject that shit directly into my bloodstream. Now sufficiently awake, I decide to call Scott and talk to my daughter. He answers his phone almost immediately and I can hear her crying in the background.

"Hi Babe." He says.

"Hi Babe, what's the matter with my boobie, is she teething?"

"Yup." He replies and I can hear him trying to comfort her to no avail.

"Babe, put her in her bouncy seat and put the phone near her on speaker and I'll sing that lullaby she likes, okay?"

As soon as he has her settled, I start speaking to my little angel. "Hi Sweetie, are you giving Daddy a hard time? I bet your gums hurt huh sweetie? That's because you're getting teeth. You're becoming a big girl now. Hey, Babe, can you put her pacy in the freezer for a few minutes, the cold will help soothe her gums when she sucks on it. So Sweetie, Mommy is going to sing you a song okay? Remember our special song, the one that makes you sleepy, do you want me to sing to you?" I keep my tone and voice as even and soothing as possible and then I start the lullaby. It's an inane song about a little girl playing in the front yard with a little ginger kitten, there's nothing special about it except for the fact that I am singing it in Gaelic which is just a beautiful language especially when it's sung. Within minutes I can hear the little one gurgling and I can tell that she is calming and becoming sleepy. I hear Scott as he slips the pacy back in her mouth and can hear her sucking on it. I then switch to another Irish lullaby which is a song about a little angel. Soon Scott whispers that she has fallen off. "My little angel, Mommy loves you and she misses you so much. Sleep well my angel." I say to her in English. Scott and I make quiet small talk for a few minutes but he has to get ready as he has an early day in court and he wants to be ready to leave as soon as the baby-sitter gets there. I give them both my love and we end our call. I miss my Laina so much, but Scott says that he will come to see us this coming weekend.

BPOV

As soon as I step off the elevator onto our floor, I hear it. Someone is singing in Irish, it reminds me of an old lullaby my grandmother used to sing to my sister and me as kids. I follow the sound and it leads me to the other corner of the floor – what I have taken to calling 'The O'Hara Corner'. I peek around to where her office is and I hear the gurgling coming from the speaker phone and I realize that Dani is singing a lullaby to a child over the phone. The voice of a man tells her that the baby is asleep and then she says "My little angel, Mommy loves you and she misses you so much. Sleep well my angel." Realizing that Dani is singing to her daughter, I retreat and walk back the way that I had come, deciding that the moment is personal and I shouldn't intrude upon it. The sound of her voice haunts me and I unconsciously begin to hum the song as I walk into my office.

This woman Dani O'Hara is an enigma. I know her reputation on the Ave; she is known to be fair, hard-working, driven, shrewd and lethal. She is also known for her mantra "I don't do bullshit.' I saw a hint of that yesterday in the Staff meeting, I can already tell that she is not impressed by Vance and has no respect for him. I saw her sizing up all of Vance's people as they were introduced and I know that she considers none of us a threat. There was a flash of something when I blurted out the fact that I knew who and what she was. It wasn't my finest moment, but it forced an interaction between the two of us which told us a lot about the other. She really does not do bullshit as I realized when she called me out in front of everyone and then proceeded to set the gossip straight by admitting what she had said to Arthur Roosevelt. It was a ballsy kiss-off and even I don't think I would have had the balls to do something like that. Her attitude about the whole incident intrigued me, she wasn't arrogant about what she had done and again she called me out and let us all know that what was truly important to her were her people. That was very evident in the way she made eye contact with them and their general ease around one another. It is obvious that they are all very close, especially her and her EA Cole.

She intrigues me. I'm not star-struck, okay maybe I am just a bit, I mean this woman is practically a legend; she has landed more accounts in her tenure at R&A than almost any other Ad Exec on the Ave around her age. Her roster of clients at R&A was diverse, she didn't discriminate, she went after anyone. The one thing that has happened since her departure from R&A is that the Firm has closed ranks. No-one is talking. They refuse to admit if they have lost any clients after what has been monikered 'The O'Hara Departure'. Vance himself does not know the roster of clients she has brought with her. She plays everything very close to her chest and trusts very few people. The Team which she has built and surrounded herself with has proven their loyalty to her (I mean they left R&A with her for fuck's sake!) and her to them countless times so there will be no leaks there. Bit by bit, Vance and I have been figuring things out. We deduced that she has at least one Japanese client and it must be pretty high profile since she and her entire Team were in early for a 6a.m. video conference. We know that she has at least one client in London based off another video conference they attended yesterday morning. The kicker however, was the arrival of Jensen Sullivan at our offices yesterday. He owns one of the most popular and profitable chain of BBQ Rib joints on the east coast and is worth hundreds of millions of dollars. I had been meeting with Vance in his office yesterday afternoon listening to him vent about how O'Hara had just blown him off when we heard a booming voice and then the sound of two very happy people laughing loudly. When we walked out of Vance's office we were met by the sight of our newest Senior Partner being hugged and spun around by a big bear of a man dressed like the typical good old boy Texan. He was hugging her and complimenting her on her 'swanky new haircut' and she was laughing and hugging him back. It was a far cry from the serious, cold no-nonsense woman we got a glimpse of at that morning's meeting. When Vance and I went back into his office he was pissed off about the fact that she had friends already visiting her on her first day on the job. I had to restrain myself from snapping at him, but this guy was so fucking clueless sometimes.

"Gardner, don't you know who that man is?" I couldn't quite keep the incredulous disbelief from my voice. He scowled and shook his head at me. "That is Jensen Sullivan, the Texas BBQ King." Suddenly, comprehension dawned on his face as he realized that Jensen Sullivan was now under the banner of Vangard.

"Brian, that man is worth hundreds of millions of dollars. His account alone is worth at least $20 million." I could all but see the dollar signs in his eyes and I had to admit that it was heady to think that this woman had brought that prestigious of an account with her.

"Do you remember the story of how she got that account?" I asked Vance. Knowing that he wouldn't know (Jesus Fucking Christ, how does this man survive in this business? Oh, yeah, it's because Brian Fucking Kinney and his Team do all the work and Vance, the Managing Partner, takes all the glory!) I plowed on, "She was visiting friends in Texas and they took her out to this rib joint and she swore that the ribs were the best on the planet. The place was kind of run down and shabby looking but none of that mattered when you were enjoying the succulent fare. She asked to meet with the Manager and asked him if he knew the owner and he said yes, that the owner just happened to be in the back in the kitchen. She demanded to be taken back to meet him. The first thing she said to Jensen Sullivan was 'Those were the best fucking ribs I have ever tasted.' He replied to her, 'Darlin' for such a Purdy Little Lady, you sure got a filthy little mouth and I kinda like that cause you really got your point across.' Vance is looking at me riveted by this story. He's getting a little bit of an insight as to what type of player he has brought on board.

I continued, "The rest is history, she pitched him right there in the kitchen of the restaurant what she wanted to do to get his joints in the public's eye and get his product the attention it deserved. He told her that he 'had a good feeling about her' and trusted her completely and that he was fine with whatever she wanted to do. They went with one of the most shocking and unapologetic viral internet advertising campaigns at that time. Online the slogan was exactly what she had said 'The best fucking ribs you have ever tasted', the print, TV and radio ads all omitted the f-bomb. She had worked with him to re-design the restaurants so that they were more modern and appealed to a wider variety of people, but still maintained the down-home feeling. Within a year, they had tripled their market share and the Ad Revenue she raked in for R&A had been astronomical." The one thing that I didn't share with Vance was that I remembered seeing pictures of O'Hara with Jensen serving chili at a homeless shelter he donates to. Now that I thought about it, it wasn't just her it was her whole Team on that line smiling and serving and making sure that all of those hungry people were fed. What I realized now, was that much like her relationship with her Team, I could see that O'Hara seems to also have a kind of familial relationship with Jensen. I remember that in all of those pictures of them, they were always hugging and smiling and it almost appeared that they were father and daughter. The display at the reception desk was spontaneous and genuine and you could tell that they really care for each other. The proof was in the pudding, he followed her here after she left R I wondered how many other similar stories we would soon become aware of.

DPOV

After getting off the phone with Scott, I worked steadily for the next hour, mentally preparing myself for the meeting with Vance. I was also practicing my poker face, I can't let on how much I despise this man and how little respect I have for him. He is well known in the Ad world, but not for the reasons he would like to think. He is what we call a wanna-be. He plays at being the consummate Ad Man, but it is clearly an act. He may be a savvy business man, but he is no Ad Man. I know this because, even though he and I have not had any direct dealings prior to our recent ones, I had seen a lot of the shady deals he has tried to manufacture over the years. I have even been involved with thwarting a few of them personally. This man does not deserve my respect, but I have to pretend that he has it. I check my reflection in the mirror and I smile at today's ensemble, an Armani Privé black slim cut pantsuit. The cut makes the suit appear to fit me like a second skin and I feel sexy and powerful. I pick up my Hermès Globe Trotter in vermillion goatskin (people, it is truly a work of art) and my BB, square my shoulders and let Cole know that I will be in Vance's office. He wishes me a quick 'good luck' and admonishes me not to 'roll my fucking eyes at the Guard'. This makes me snicker, which definitely helps to put me in a better mood. As I enter Vance's suite, Hildy looks up smiling that fake, sickly sweet smile at me. God, I hate that smug bitch.

"Good Morning, Hildy." I say pleasantly.

"Good Morning Ms. O'Hara, you may go right in, Mr. Vance is waiting for you." I enter the office, close the door and make myself comfortable in one of the guest chairs that sit in front of his monstrosity of a desk. I smirk when I think that the size of his desk must be him compensating for his tiny dick. Men are so shallow and easy to read. I say nothing; I am waiting for him to make the first move. This always unnerves people who think they have a lot of power.

He huffs out a breath and asks. "So, Dani, how are things so far?" God, this is the best opener he can come up with?

"So far, so good, thank you." I do not give him an opening to segue to talk about what this meeting is really about. He tries again.

"So, the reason I called this meeting is for us to talk about what you are bringing to the table here at Vangard." He pauses dramatically and right now, I am straining to prevent my eye-balls from rolling heavenward.

I decide that I can't wade through all his posturing and pretentious double talk so I say, "To be blunt Gardner, you want a roster of the clients who have chosen to follow me from Roosevelt and Associates, as well as the value of said accounts, correct?"

He is surprised by my bluntness, "…uh, yes." I open my planner and retrieve a sheet of paper and hand it to him. Of the 10 client accounts I oversaw at R&A, 7 of them have followed me. The look on his face is priceless, his eyes get beady and I can practically see the dollar signs in them. He is adding up the figures in the right hand column next to each client, trying valiantly to calculate the worth of the woman sitting before him. I decide to put him out of his misery.

"The total is at the bottom." I know the exact moment he realizes that he has bitten off more than he can chew by getting into bed with me.

He looks at me. "$113 million?"

"Yes." I reply, I mean there's nothing more to say, it's all right there in black and white. I pull some additional documentation out of my planner and hand those over as well.

"This is a contract that each of them signed with me agreeing to continue with the terms and duration of the same contract which I had initially brokered with them at R&A. Per our the agreement which you and I signed, Gardner, they are my clients and we are under the banner of Vangard advertising. Also, per our agreement, I have complete autonomy over all clients, contracts, concepts and methodologies. I should also let you know, that there is a clause in each of their contracts that states that if you try to poach them from me, I will leave you and you will be fucked. So, just so that we are clear, I have brought under the Vangard banner a client roster worth $113 million, which you have no say in, however, you will reap the benefits of their Ad Revenue. For this, as a Senior Partner, you have agreed to re-cut your pie which now gives Mr. Kinney and myself each 30%, while you as the Managing Partner, retain the lion's share of 40%. As a reminder, I have put together a list of things which were part of our partnership agreement. I have advised you, that due to our dealings with AsiaPac and Europe, my Team and I will need to travel to said locations at least bi-monthly to visit with our clients. All expenses are to be incurred by Vangard."

"Each Friday, my Team and I dress down – casual dress and jeans and we see no clients. As for the synergy that you have mentioned, I believe that in order for our two teams to integrate there has to be a level playing field. You pay your people shit and they will not be loyal to you if you continue to do so. You are very lucky that Mr. Kinney is so good at what he does and that his people are as well and that they like and respect him, otherwise they would have all deserted you when you initially took over. You need to pay them all what they would be worth to you on the Street, because as you have said, you want to make this Firm one of the best on the East Coast and I believe that with a Team led by myself and Mr. Kinney that we can make it the number one Ad House on the East Coast with you as our Figurehead."

Vance is looking at me and it looks like he can't decide what he wants to do, curse me out, cry, laugh or have a heart-attack. All I know is that little vein in his forehead is throbbing and the odds are getting better that that thing will have popped by the end of the week. I see the moment that he acquiesces and realizes that he tried to hustle a hustler and lost. He made the mistake that many have made before him; he thinks that because I am young, it means that I am inexperienced and naive. He thinks that because I am a woman, it means I can't be decisive and assertive. He thinks that because I am a mother, it means that I can't be ruthless, calculating and lethal. Once again, a man has underestimated me and paid the ultimate price for it. I saw the glint in Arthur Roosevelt's eyes when he made my Junior Partner announcement, under all his family rhetoric and the patting me on the back bullshit he was spewing, the bottom line was, what was I worth to them. So at the first sign of 'dissention' he thought that he would be able to scare me out. No, siree, I was born and raised in NYC, I've been dealing with sewer rats my whole life and just because this one was dressed in a $3000 Italian suit didn't mean that I couldn't catch a whiff of the sewer smell on him.

Vance knows that he is cornered; he knows that he has significantly underestimated me and that it Is too late to matter now. He has signed all of the required contracts and the lawyers have already filed them. The only thing left now is to inform Mr. Kinney of his and his people's new salary adjustments and partnership divisions and have those papers signed and filed immediately. I also insist on confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements for all of them Vance and Kinney included, yep, I agree with Tyler Durden – the first rule of Fight Club, don't talk about Fight Club. I also insist on 'no-jump/non-compete' agreements for Mr. Kinney and his Team and Vance for 3 years. That means, that they agree to not move to a competing House in the Ad industry for the next 3 years or risk being sued and loss of incentive. Vance agrees and I tell him that since our meeting is over that we should move to the conference room where he has scheduled the meeting for the three of us.

Vance is stunned and is slow to react. I give him a minute; it is a lot to take in. So much has happened within the last 30 minutes and all that he thought he knew has changed. I am happy to see that the smug look has permanently left his face.

We walk to his conference room and within a few minutes Kinney joins us. He is trying to read us, but my poker face is fully in place. Vance has regained some semblance of control and begins the meeting. At some point he looks at me and indicates that I have the floor. Yes, see he knows who's in charge now. I see a look of understanding dawn on Kinney's face. He has sensed the shift in power and he is not surprised or upset in the least. I begin by presenting Kinney with a copy of the client roster that I had provided Vance. Unlike his Neanderthal boss, Kinney's eyes go straight to the bottom and look at the total. He whistles appreciatively and looks at me. I incline my head in acknowledgement of his recognition.

He looks back at the list and says, "You know, I tried to woo 3 of the guys on this list." He looks at me with a smirk.

"I know, I saw your pitches, they were good, but mine were obviously much better." I reply. Now, I'm smiling and he laughs out loud. He has a rich laugh, but it sounds as though it doesn't get used often. I tell him about the new partnership agreement and he cannot keep the look of shock off his face when he realizes that we have equal shares of the company. The sheet of paper I hand him confirms this. The look on his face is shrewd as he regards me closely. I leave him to it, he's a smart guy and he will figure it out quickly enough. Again, he cannot hide his shock when I tell him that his salary, as well as his Team's is to be adjusted to the market which in this case is The Ave. I hand him another sheet with the new figures. He agrees with me about the need for the confidentiality, non-disclosure and the no-jump/non compete agreements. We talk a bit more about the documents which I have presented to him and I let him know that he should inform his Team members so that he and they can all go to Legal and get everything signed quickly. I told him that I would schedule a meeting with him early tomorrow morning to go over integrating our 2 groups and sharing our ideas with one another. He thanks me and without a backward glance at Vance, the two of us exit the conference room and return to our respective offices.

I return to my office and Cole knows me well enough to know that I want to be alone. So he closed the door to our suite and then my own to leave me to my thoughts. I do not regret what I have done. I believe that Vance deserves his place usurped by people who are actually doing the work. Besides, not many people in the Ad world have much respect for him, but on Wall Street he is still seen as a savvy businessman, that is one commodity that he possesses that I want to leverage. What I am sad about is the way that he has been running this Firm since he has taken over. He treats his people like minions and so they have no respect for him (I saw that from the first Staff meeting) he does not pay them well or recognize their worth so they do not exert themselves or show their creativity. Consequently, even though these people are very talented, the talent is wasted and that means that Kinney picks up all of the slack. I know that most of the last pitches that were made have been almost all 100% him with very little input from his Team members. That leaves one very over-worked yet bored Ad Exec and that is never a good thing. I know that he interviewed on the Ave last year, but his no-nonsense arrogant reputation preceded him and so he was shot down or at least that was what the word on the Ave was. The truth was, there were 3 houses that were very interested in him, who would have welcomed his ego and inflated sense of self because of his tremendous talent. The real reason Kinney was shot down was due to the behind the scenes manipulations and machinations of one Gardner Vance, who didn't want to lose his Golden Boy. I abhor this kind of dirty positioning. You can be ruthless and cut-throat, but the playing field should be even; everyone should have the same advantages and disadvantages. I know it sounds naïve and very Utopian, but I believe in fairness. That said, the Guard will stay on as a Figurehead, he has nowhere to go and he knows it.

The rest of the day is spent meeting with my Team and informing them of what has transpired. I received a call from Legal informing me that all the required contracts and agreements have been signed. I check Kinney's Calendar for tomorrow and schedule a meeting for the two of us in my office for 8a.m. His acceptance comes within two minutes. I smirk at his eagerness. We could have had the meeting today, but I want him to go home and have the time to let everything that happened today sink in and get a good night's rest. Plus, he can write down all of the questions that he will want to ask me tomorrow. Right then and there, I decide that I trust this man and I want him to know that. I open a drawer in my credenza and pull out a copy of the methodology which I plan to officially start implementing here with our next batch of new clients as well as retro-fitting where needed into our existing clients. I leave my office and make my way over to the 'Kinney Corner' of the floor. When I reach Brian's office, I see that his door is open, but I wait by Cynthia's desk as she finishes a call.

"Hello Cynthia," I greet her pleasantly, "Is Brian available?" She looks up at me and I hate the look of intimidation on her face, it is bordering on fear. I give her a reassuring smile.

"I'll see if he's available Ms. O'Hara, one moment please." She buzzes Brian and tells him that I am here and asks if he is available. She motions to me that I should go right in. Before I turn away from her desk, I tell her thank you and ask her to please call me Dani. She smiles and I know that this is the reaction I will get from her going forward. A little bit of kindness goes a long way. As I enter Brian's office he stands to greet me.

'Hello Dani, what can I do for you?" he asks.

"A little bit of light reading for you in preparation for our discussions tomorrow." I hand him the booklet. He looks at the title, sees confidential stamped across the front and immediately reaches under his desk and retrieves his briefcase - the black Hermès briefcase with the Palladium hardware. I can't help but smirk and say "Nice briefcase."

He laughs and then says, "Your bag is very nice too." We're both laughing now acknowledging that we each are both suffering from Labelwhoreitis. I turn on my heels (Prada today and I know that he's checking out the fit of my Armani suit) and leave his office, wishing him a good night as I cross the threshold. I say the same to Cynthia and walk back to my office. As I pass reception, I see a delivery guy with a big-ass box on a hand truck.

Peggy motions me over and says, "Ms. O'Hara, there's a delivery here for you." I look at the delivery details and it's from Basil the Chocolatier. It's about fucking time! I am PMSing in the worse way and horny as hell and I am craving ze chocolate!!!! I quickly sign the slip and then motion for the delivery man to follow me to my office. The man hasn't even left the area before Cole produces a box cutter seemingly out of nowhere and starts cutting the seals on the box.

I laugh and he joins me and then comes over and gives me a hug and a kiss. "Feeling better, love?" he asks while staring at me. He knows that today has been a difficult and emotionally draining day for me. Even though he knows I'm a tough chick, he knows that I am human and so he just makes sure that I am all good.

"I am now after this hug, love. Thank you." When the box is finally opened, the smell of the chocolate just bombards you and both our stomachs start rumbling. I am so having an all chocolate lunch today! We spread all the chocolate out on the table in the waiting area of my suite and when the rest of the team comes over we descend on it like a swarm of locusts. "Hey Cole, why don't you give Cynthia a call and ask her if she wants to come over to help herself to some chocolate?" He smiles at me; he knows exactly what I'm doing. I l retreat to my office and listen to him and Cynthia interact when she comes over. Soon the two of them are chatting away with each other. Yes, I can see us all being a really good group together. I think that moving to Pittsburg will be the best thing that has ever happened to me. I come back out to the table and I'm looking for the chocolate covered coconut thingies, those things are so good. As I pass by them, Cole and Cynthia both look like they are in chocolate heaven. I laugh at their expressions as I look for my prize.

"Looking for these?" Ang asks from the doorway, as she holds up 3 of the chocolate covered coconut nirvana.

"Yes." I sigh in defeat; we have played this game many a time. "What do you want for them?" I ask. In my head I'm screaming 'please not the milk chocolate covered almonds bars'. As I knew she would, she practically screams "One milk chocolate covered almond bar!"

"Fuck!" I exclaim and stomp into my office and retrieve the bar from my stash. We silently make the exchange and then we are tearing into our respective chocolate treats. Cynthia starts moaning and admits that she needs to stop eating or she's going to have such a stomach ache tonight. We all agree and then we laughingly agree to have just one more piece for the day. She asks if she can take some back to Brian and I say sure. When she leaves, Cole and I wink at each other - Mission Accomplished.

True to my word, I (and I suspect that I am not the only one) spend the rest of the afternoon eating chocolate. By the time Cole and I are ready to leave to go buy my car, I am already beginning to have one hell of a stomach-ache.

BPOV

When I walked into the conference room, I immediately knew that something was very much amiss. I looked to Vance first and he looked like he was about to hurl. Then I looked at Dani and she was the picture of calm. I knew right there that something had changed in the dynamic of this Firm. This was big. This was huge. When Vance mumbled a few words and then gave her the floor, I knew then that I was right. The power had definitely shifted and it now lay with Dani. Well, that didn't take long now did it? One day. I wonder how long she would give me before I had to be out. I sighed, at least my resume was up to date. To say that I was shocked when Dani started talking was a fucking understatement. I recognized all the clients on her list, hell I had pitched to 3 of them. When I told her this she said that she knew and that she had seen my pitches and while they were good, hers were obviously better. Wow, backhand compliment, much? She was right though, I see her ads on TV and in print and they are amazing.

I continued to be shocked when she tells me about the new partnership agreement and shows me the documentation that confirms it. I can't help but look at her. Why is she doing this? Why do we have equal shares? Then she hands me the paper with me and my Team's salary adjustments and I am stunned. I agree with her shrewd decision for the need for the confidentiality, non-disclosure and the no-jump/non-compete agreements, there's so much more to protect now with what she has just brought to this Firm. She advises me to meet with my Team and then get everyone over to Legal to get everything squared away. She tells me that she will schedule a meeting for us tomorrow to go over integrating our two groups and sharing our ideas. I thank her and we both leave the conference room without a backward glance at Vance. As I made my way back to my office, it's like I am in a dream. I am still in shock about so many things. First off, this woman brought 7 priority 1 clients with her and they are worth $113 million! Holy Fucking Hell! When I get to my office, I motion for Cynthia to come in and to close the door. I tell her new salary and her jaw drops open. I suspect that's how I looked 20 minutes ago when I was told. I tell her about the new confidentiality, non-disclosure and the no-jump/non-compete agreements which she needs to go over to Legal and file and she just nods still clearly in shock. I call in the members of my Team individually and tell them their new salaries; their reactions mirror Cynthia's. We all go to Legal to sign all of the required documentation. After that's done I come back to my office, sit in my chair and just stare out the window, thinking. After a while, it hits me. Dani O'Hara is building an empire, she wants Vance as just a Figurehead to help us navigate Wall Street and she and I are going to partner to run the Firm with one integrated group under us. Holy Fucking Shit! I think I'm going to be sick. She played Vance. He underestimated her because she is young and a woman and a mother. Didn't he know they can be the most ruthless if you make an enemy of them? She knows who I am, she has seen my work and she said that it was good. Suddenly, I am a little afraid of just how well-connected, all-knowing and ruthless this woman can be. It's hard to juxtapose this image to the one of the 'Mommy singing to her angel' from this morning. Suddenly I have a huge headache and have decided that I will not think about this any more for the day, but will think about it tonight and then get a good night's rest to prepare for tomorrow. I buzz Cynthia and ask her to bring me some Tylenol. She brings the Tylenol liquid gels, hands them to me and leaves my office without a word. I suspect that she, like me is still in shock over all that has transpired in the last hour.

A little while later, I receive a meeting request from Dani, not from her EA Cole, but from the woman herself. I accept and then rest my head back on my desk. God, I really hope I'm not dreaming I think to myself as I hold the cool water bottle against my forehead. A short while later, I hear the murmur of voices outside my door and then Cynthia buzzes me. She tells me that Ms. O'Hara's here to see me and asks whether I'm available. I say that I am and a few seconds later Dani strolls into my office.

I stand to greet her, "Hello Dani, what can I do for you?"

She hands me a booklet and says, "A little bit of light reading for you in preparation for our discussions tomorrow." I like the way she says 'our discussions', like she is really interested in what I have to say. I look at the title and realize immediately that it is an outline of her new methodology. Heeding the confidential stamp across the front of the booklet, I reach under my desk for my briefcase, balance it on the desk and put the booklet into it. I look up and catch her smirking at me and she says "Nice briefcase."

I laugh as I think back to her red Hermès Birkin 40 cm with Palladium hardware and say "Your bag is very nice too." We both laugh acknowledging the Label Whore in the other. I don't know why, but at that moment I decide that I will trust this woman. She turns to leave and I admire today's ensemble – Armani Privé slim fit pants suit and Prada heels. When she reaches the threshold she turns back and wishes me a good night.

Cynthia comes into my office a short time later and tells me what transpired when Dani first came over and how she had asked her to call her Dani. "Is she for real, Bri?" Cynthia asks.

"I believe she is, Cyn." Is my honest reply. Cynthia's phone rings a few minutes later and she leaves my office to attend to the call. She reappears at my door to tell me that Cole, Dani's EA has invited her over to get some chocolate as they have just gotten a delivery from one of their clients. Ah, from the Chocolatier in London, if I remember correctly from the client roster. I see exactly what Dani is doing and I appreciate it. She is showing me that I have made the right decision in trusting her. When Cynthia gets back she has chocolates for me (oh chocolate covered coconuts thingies!) and the rest of the Team. I spend the rest of the afternoon eating chocolate and soon my headache had disappeared although I now have a stomach-ache. When 4p.m. rolls around I send Cynthia and the rest of the team home (we're still in too much shock to do much of anything today) and shortly thereafter I decide to call it a day as well.

As I walk to the elevators, Dani and Cole are already there and they are arguing.

"I don't need to be married to you!" Dani says furiously.

"Why, love, why don't you want to be married to me?" Cole asks passionately. At that point, he spots me and then winks. "Don't' you want to wear my ring and proclaim to the world that you are mine?" He grabs her hand and looks imploringly into her eyes. "Liebchen, I know that zere is love in your heart for me, we are soon to be ze newlyweds; we must kees to seal the deal." When he breaks out this ridiculous German accent, we all burst out laughing.

Dani turns to me and rolls her eyes, "I'm going to buy a car and he thinks that if we pretend to be engaged or married I'll get a better deal on the car."

I nod sympathetically, as much as you hate it, it's true. "If you go in as a single woman, they will try to rip you off, no matter how good of a negotiator you may be."

"Yeah, I know. Okay, come along Honey-Bunny." She says to Cole. He pretends to hurl as we all get on the elevator. "What, you don't like my nick-names for you, Pookie-Bear?" she asks him sweetly. Now I am the one who pretends to hurl. We all laugh.

"What kind of car are you getting?" I ask. She gets this dreamy look on her face and says in a hushed and reverent tone "An Audi A5 in solid black with black leather interior." I smile at her.

"Ah, I see you have great tasted in cars as well." She laughs at that, I think we both know that if Gucci, Prada, Armani or Hermès made cars we'd be in serious trouble.

"What do you drive?" she asks.

"A fully restored 1971 Corvette Stingray in hunter green." I say with my own tone of reverence. She rolls her eyes and mumbles something about 'men and their penis-mobiles'. Cole and I laugh.

"What do you drive?" I ask Cole.

He gets this look of love on his face and says "A fully restored 1970 Mustang in black with a white racing stripe." We share a bro nod at the awesomeness of our cars. By this time, we've exited the elevator into the parking garage and Cole and I discover that we've parked near one another and we check out each other's cars. Dani mumbles something about 'dogs sniffing one another's butts' and laughs at us. We soon part ways with Cole calling out "Coming my little apple-dumpling, chocolate tart, cumquat." This time it's me and Dani that are pretending to hurl as we go our separate ways for the evening.

DPOV

As Cole and I drive away, we marvel at what a cool person Brian seems to be and that we are right to trust him and want him to be a part of our little family.

The charade at the dealership goes well and I only had to kiss my 'Sticky-Buns' once before the salesman brought out the 'aww, young lovers, here's your special discount' sales pitch. We got the car in no time, tags were done, insurance taken care of, got the plates and the license transferred at the DMV and I was one happy Chica! I made Cole take a picture of me standing by my new car with my BB and then I sent it to my Team, Brian and my brothers with the Caption 'Dani and the Black Venom'. Yep, I nicknamed my car. What? Men can give their peens nicknames and I can't give my new car a name? Well, fuck that! He is the Black Venom! A few minutes later I got a text back from Brian which read. 'Nice car and I like the name you picked out for him. Was the 'Honey-Bunny' (hurling) any help?'

I replied 'As soon as they drove him out to me, that was the name that jumped into my head! Yes, my 'Sticky-Buns' (hurling on sidewalk, far away from the Black Venom) helped a great deal. I only had to kiss him once *inserted vomiting smiley face* and the salesman gave us close to sticker price.' I laughed at how natural this interaction between us seemed, I really liked Brian Kinney.

BPOV

I was sitting in the diner with Mikey, Emmett, Ted and Lindsay when I got a text message with an attachment from Dani. When I opened it and saw the picture, I burst out laughing! She looked like a big kid, with this huge smile on her face posing next to the brand new car she had appropriately christened the Black Venom. I couldn't help but chuckle as I replied back to her asking about her Honey-Bunny. I was taking a bite of my turkey on rye when I received her reply and almost choked at 'Sticky-Buns' and the vomiting smiley face. I laughed at how natural this interaction between us seemed, I really like Daniella O'Hara.

I replied back to her, thanking her for the vomiting smiley face and the fact that it made me choke on my sandwich. She replied that she was sorry (not really as she sent a picture of a smiley face laughing and slapping its knee) but she hoped I didn't spew all over anyone. I replied to her, that luckily I was able to remember my table manners and so there was no damage to humans or house-elves. I don't know what compelled me to make a play on the spew/S.P.E.W. Harry Potter reference but I did it anyway. She replied 'Nicely played, sir. Nicely played, indeed. I appreciate an obscure Harry Potter reference and subtle play on words. Alas, now you have made me think of Dobby and now I am so sad' *Inserted sad smiley face*. This woman had a quick mind! 'Awww." I said out loud when I saw the sad smiley face. I replied that she should remember the good times she had with Dobby like when he made the desert fall on Uncle Vernon's boss' wife's head, or when he used his magic to prevent Lucius Malfoy from attacking Harry. She replied back, that since she didn't posses Elfish magic for the obvious reason because she was not an elf (I loved the fact that she didn't say it was because elves, nor magic, nor Harry Potter are real) she would have used Wingardium Leviosa. To which I replied that it was LeviOsa not LevioSAH. She replied that now she was sad again and she was off to go have a good cry in an unoccupied bathroom. To which I replied 'Look out for the troll!' To which she replied 'I took care of that smelly troll' *wipes troll buggers off of wand*EWWWWWW! *Ella takes a bow and waves bye bye to fellow Potter-Head as she has to leave for the evening* Remember, Constant Vigilance. To which I reply "Ian waves bye bye to Ella and tips hat to the greatest Auror who ever lived, the one the only, the partially wooden Mad-Eye Moody'.

At this point I realize a few things. Ella (as she calls herself, hmmm interesting and I like it) and I (Ian, as I apparently call myself) have been texting each other for over half an hour. I haven't laughed this much or this loudly in a very long time. My sandwich lay forgotten for the duration of our chat. Perhaps the biggest realization though is the fact that I, Brian Fucking Kinney have just spent the last 30minutes text flirting with a girl and I LIKED IT! I don't know if to laugh or cry, but I just can't stop smiling. The last thing I realize is that our table is completely quiet. When I look up I see 5 pairs of eyes (Debbie is standing at our table now) looking at me like I've lost my mind. This of course only makes me laugh even harder, but I ignore them and work on finishing my sandwich. They however, are not about to let that happen.

Mikey says "Bri, who were you texting?"

I feign innocence but then Lindsay jumps in and says "Brian you were smiling and laughing out loud the entire time. I have never heard you laugh so much in all the time I have known you." They are all looking at me and I know that it is true, I don't usually laugh, except for when I'm with my son Gus, but the kind of witty repartee I just experienced with Ella makes me laugh. I do have a sense of humor, I just have never met anyone who gets it or can match it. It seems that in Ella I have met my match. With a last chuckle, I throw a few bills down to cover everyone's meal and leave Debbie a big tip, bid them all goodnight and make my way home. As I drive home I find myself looking for a black Audi A5.

When I arrive home, I undress and take a long, hot shower. I then sit on the sofa and read the booklet that Dani gave me. I have decided that I have to call her Dani at work and Ella when we are not. Her ideas are sound and will go a long way to ensuring that each client's needs are met for the long-term and not just as a short-term band aid fix. Some of the concepts are easy to understand some require more of an economics background which I do not have. All in all I'm eager to see what types of ideas we can bat around tomorrow. I fall asleep dreaming of elves, vomiting smiley faces and a woman with a red Hermès Birkin.

DPOV

For the last 30 minutes I have been sitting in my new car, text flirting with a boy and I LIKED IT! Not only do we share the same taste in clothing and accessories and possess unparalleled style, but we share the same weird witty sense of humor. If anyone had been near me as I was texting and reading his replies they would have assumed that I was insane at the way I was laughing out loud like a complete loon. Soon after I said goodnight to Ian (I like that nickname) I head home and as I drove, I found myself looking for a hunter green Corvette Stingray.

Later that night as I prepared for bed, I couldn't help but think of how things went today. I hoped that things will come together at Vangard and I feel confident that working together Brian and I can turn this Firm into the powerhouse I know it can be. I find myself really looking forward to our session tomorrow. I fall asleep thinking of Dobby, S.P.E.W. and a man with a black Hermès briefcase.


	4. How Did We Get Here?

The Tale Of The Unapologetic & The Blatant

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Summary: Brian Kinney has it all; he's young, beautiful, talented and successful. He's a Senior Partner at Vangard Advertising, the top advertising agency in Pittsburgh and the heir apparent to the Managing Partner. Will the mysterious new arrivals change everything he thought he knew? Story contains OFC and OMC.

DPOV

The next morning, I am so excited to be driving my new car to work even if the ride only lasted 11 minutes. This car is so me! It is powerful and the German engineering is just purring under my foot and between my legs. God, who would have thought the Black Venom would be such a fuck awesome sexy car. I park my car and then proceed to my office. I email my guys and then call Scottie to confirm that he and the little one are coming up this weekend. We do a web chat so that I can see Laina. She is naked except for her pamper and happily gurgling and waving her arms at the camera while making those non-sensible cute noises.

"Hi Sweetie, what are you doing baby?" I say to her and start making funny faces at the camera and blowing raspberries. She starts laughing and chewing on her fingers and making her own version of funny faces. Then I start playing pee-ka-boo with her and she starts screaming and laughing and bouncing in her bouncy chair. I am enthralled, she is so happy and carefree and it just warms my heart.

"So, Scottie when are you coming up?" I ask. He picks her up and sits with her in his lap. She is now kicking her legs and making her gaga noises at the camera. I stick my tongue out at her and she laughs.

He kisses the top of her head and then says, "Well, we were going to come see you at work on Friday evening, how about that? We'd get to see Cole and everybody and see your new digs."

I laugh and clap my hands just as Laina did the same thing.

"That sounds great, I can't wait to see you both and I know the guys can't wait either. Is there anything special you want to do while you're here?"

"Whatever you want to do, we just want to spend the time with you. We miss Mommy don't we? Don't we munchkin, don't we?" He was now chewing on her toes. Laina was squirming and scream-laughing at this point.

"Well Mommy misses the munchkin and the munchkin's daddy very much too."

He looks right at me and smiles and says, "I love you Dani and I can't wait to see you."

I blow him a kiss and reply "I love you too big brother. Bye bye boobie!" I give Laina a few more funny faces and blow her a few more kisses. "Mommy loves you sweetie and she can't wait to hold you on Friday."

We signed off and I turned away from the PC screen to prepare for my meeting with Ian, no Brian. I have decided that I am going to call him Brian when we are at work and Ian when we are not. I get my mug and go to the pantry for a cup of French Roast. Soon I am back at my desk enjoying my cup o' heaven when the sound of laughter comes from my doorway. I turn to see Brian pointing at me and chuckling and when I look down, I finally get the joke and almost choke on my coffee. The mug that currently holds my cup 'o French Roast heaven, the same mug that I have been drinking my morning coffee from for the last 6 years is a Harry Potter mug, specifically a large white mug with a blue artificial eye and the legend 'Constant Vigilance' emblazoned across the front in the Harry Potter font. This puts us right back to last night's flirty atmosphere and it's a welcome start to what could have been an awkward initial conversation.

Just as I thought, Brian has a lot of questions regarding yesterday's announcements and wants to discuss the Firm's direction. I answer them all and then he tells me that he wants to understand how I got here. He knows the basics, but wants to know the details of what had happened to make me quit my dream job. I began by giving him the background on what had happened at R&A and me having my A-ha! Moment (Yeah, I read O Magazine, what?) when I realized that Arthur wanted me to lie to a client to save face. I told Brian how Arthur tried to fire me and how I told him that I would make it very difficult if he tried to do that. He asked me to apologize to the client and I refused and tendered my resignation. I went back to my office, advised Cole and my Team of what had just transpired and packed my personal effects which weren't much; I travel light. As they had all been with me at the presentation and saw how Arthur and the other Partners reacted when I answered the potential client's question as to whether they could turn the company around without going in the direction I was pitching, (my answer was an emphatic no and that they would be out of business within a month without our campaign) they knew that I was going to be ordered to call the client and apologize, retract my statement and feed them the party line. They also knew me well enough to know that that shit was not gonna happen. So when I came back to the office they knew what the deal was. Cole had already compiled all of our salient client data, pitches, Ad Revenue statistics for each of our clients, files, emails, Calendar meetings, client contracts, correspondence etc. and had copied them to an External Hard drive (Thank you Western Digital!). All hard copies of my Methodology which I had never stored on the PC thank God, were placed in his briefcase. I quickly typed a very succinct letter to HR, cc'd Mr. Moss, Arthur Roosevelt and the other Senior Partners, bcc'd myself and Cole as well as a personal email address. The second email I sent was to my 10 clients advising them of my resignation from the Firm, I also cc'd Mr. Ross and Arthur Roosevelt on this email as well then logged off my machine and left the building with Cole. When we walked over to the park, he gave me the External Hard Drive (EHD) and the documents and hailed me a cab. Within 10 minutes of my departure the rest of my Team had also tendered their resignations and left the building. By the time the Team got to my Brownstone in Brooklyn Heights, I had already been a busy little Bee. I had already downloaded the contents of my BB to my home laptop to ensure that all data was backed up before R&A decided to sever my access. I made sure that the 2 emails which I had sent out before I left were saved for future reference. I also made a copy of everything on Cole's EHD and saved it to my own EHD. I scanned all of the hard documents saved them onto both Cole's EHD and my own and then burnt a copy of everything to a couple of DVDs and put those, the documents and Cole's EHD in my wall safe. Yeah, this business is cutthroat and you can never be too careful.

When the Team and I were all seated in my living-room, I began the pow wow by making sure that everyone was sure that they had done the right thing. When I received all affirmatives, I asked them to give me 2 weeks before we would all be starting new jobs as the Team that we are. There were several Houses that had been trying to woo me for years and it would be a coup for any of them to get not just me but my Advertising and Design Team; everyone knows that behind a great Ad Exec is an even greater A&D Team.

First things first I called all 10 of my clients to tell them what had happened at R&A. Of the 10, 7 of them pledged their loyalty to me and assured me that once I found a new home, they would make the move with me. I called one of the best head-hunters in the business Oksana Torres; she was a bull dyke who could get shit done. I told her I needed her to find me at least a Junior Partner position at an Ad House on the Ave and to also send me a listing of what was currently out there. She sent me the listing immediately and within the hour she had scheduled me for interviews at the top 5 Ad Houses on the Ave. I spoke with their HR people and scheduled interviews for the upcoming days. The Team provided me with copies of their resumes; I would be selling all of us on those interviews, my potential employers needed to know what they were getting.

Over the course of the next few days the interviews went very well, but none of them gave me a spark. All of them felt like a facsimile of R&A and I could just see the dollar signs in the beady little eyes of every Partner who interviewed me. Word on the Ave was that everybody was trying to get us and that they would do anything to get us. However, based off of the questions I was asking in my interviews, I knew that I would potentially run into the same problems at these Houses that I did at R I would have no autonomy and would always have to kow tow to my bosses even though they may not truly know what was best for a client as they were so far removed from the situation. I knew that these positions were not going to be a good fit for us. Then, Fate intervened.

One night I was attending a Fund Raiser for the American Cancer Society in Manhattan, when I spotted Gardner Vance. What an asshole that guy was, I was hoping that he would just smile politely at me and then leave me the fuck alone, but no such luck. He sidles over and sits at my table.

"Dani O'Hara, I don't think that we've ever met, but I am Gardner Vance of Vangard Advertising…in Pittsburgh." He finished off lamely at my obviously puzzled expression at trying to figure out just who the fuck he was. I smirked to myself; he actually thought that I should know who he is. I do know who he is but not for the reason he thinks. He sees himself as a 'mover and a shaker' in the Ad world, but really he is a wanna-be. His shop in Pittsburgh is good, but it's not because of him. It's because of who he has working for him; Brian Kinney. I had seen some of this guy's pitches and actual ad campaigns on TV and in print and he was good. So good, that I had tried to get my bosses at R&A to hire him, I was flat-out denied. They didn't think that some Ad guy from 'Butt-fuck' PA would be able to navigate around the Ave. I had been following his career these past few years and he was getting better. Suddenly a plan started to form in my head. I began to pay attention to Vance, feigning an interest that I did not feel, waiting for an opening. It finally came about 15 minutes after he had sat and started talking.

"So, I heard about that nasty bit of business at R&A. That's a shame that they would let a talent such as yourself walk out the door." I guess he thought that stroking my ego was a good way to get 'in' with me. I sit back to see where this was going. "Of course, if you were in my shop you would be in total control. I would leave it up to you to decide what to do with your clients." There, ladies and gentlemen was the opening that I had been waiting for.

I leaned towards him and asked, "Hmm, is that right? Full and complete autonomy? Well, I have to say Mr. Vance that that sounds like an interesting proposition." I paused, looking at him. Wait for it…wait for it… and here it comes!

His eyes widened like saucers and then he pounced, "I would love to have you under the Vangard banner, Ms. O'Hara and I give you my word that if you chose to become a part of our family, you will want for nothing and you will have 100% complete independent control of your clients."

I looked at him quietly for several minutes and then said, "So are you making me an offer?"

His expression changed from playful to shock. "Uh, yes, I'd like to sit and meet with you and see if we can't come to an equitable agreement." Right there I knew I had him. We agreed to lunch the next day at an out of the way place that I knew and loved and where I knew that we would be afforded the utmost privacy and discretion by the staff. I asked Vance to keep both our meeting and what we had discussed tonight confidential and he hurriedly assured me that he would. After the fund raiser was over I made my way back to my brownstone and sent a blast email to my Team. "What do you all think about a move to Pittsburgh, PA? Meet at my place at 5 tomorrow evening."

Cole came over and he and I discussed the possibility of moving to the Pitts. We debated the pros and the cons. The biggest con of course was not being physically on the Ave. Even though it wouldn't matter to our clients, it was perception that sometimes mattered to most people. I actually liked the idea of being away from the Ave, it gave you the opportunity to work without the constant scrutiny of your competitors, but you had to balance that with not being an island or existing in a vacuum. It was good to play Devil's Advocate with Cole, it helped me clear my mind and solidify my choice. Cole was on board to go with me where ever I went. That night after Cole left, I gathered all of the information that I could on Vangard. Just as I thought, I looked at the accounts which it had acquired over the past year since Vance took over and all I saw was the Brown Athletics account which Brian had brought in and a smattering of smaller accounts all brought in by, you guessed it, Brian Kinney. I liked this Kinney guy, I liked his ideas, he was innovative and creative, but was often reined in by his boss who was a product of the Wall Street conservative mentality of not wanting to upset a client. I felt that if given the chance that Kinney and I working together would be an invincible duo. I also knew a few of the players on his A&D Team and they were very good. Yes, this could be a good match. Vangard was already the top Ad House in Pittsburgh and I was sure that with my clients attracting new business, me implementing my concepts and methodologies and us working together we would be able to make it a serious competitor of the Houses on the Ave. By the time I went to bed that night, I knew exactly what I wanted.

Lunch the next day went exactly as I had hoped. Vance was predictably eager to get me and when I told him that I would be bringing my entire A&D Team he was downright gleeful. Then he did something that to be quite frank shocked me. He told me that he had heard of the methodologies that I had been trying to implement at R&A and he said that he believed that I was on the right track in trying to offer complete service to our clients. That gave me pause, not because he knew about my Methodology, but the fact that he genuinely believed what he was saying. Soon, we hammered out the numbers until I was satisfied with them. I could care less if they were satisfactory to him; I knew that he would give his right arm to get us. I knew that I could ask for the moon and he would ensure he got it for me…gift-wrapped! This was going to be great. Me, I didn't care where I worked. I had lived and worked in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Thailand and London so I was not afraid to move around for a job. This opportunity was too good to pass up. I, however, did not let on any of this to Vance. I appeared indifferent and barely interested in out meeting/interview. His questions were inane and really he was just fishing for gossip. He never even got up the nerve to ask me if I was bringing any clients with me. He had to know that I was, though. Since my departure there had been so much speculation on the Ave about what I had done, but the latest was that I had decimated R&A when I had left taking half of my clients with me. I smirked and scoffed, half! I did a helluva lot better than half. Noticing that I did not seem enthused about what he was offering me, he upped the ante with additional perks. I told him that if I was going to be a Senior Partner then I wanted a third of the partnership pie. This was his one sticking point and he said that he would retain a majority share as he was the Managing Partner and his name was on the Masthead. I 'grudgingly' agreed to the 30/40/30 split. This was too easy. He had just given away his company and he had no idea. I know that he expected me to jump at his offer but instead I told him that I would need a few days to meet with my Team and see if this could potentially be a good fit for us. I see his incredulous look at me; surprised that I would even consider asking my 'lowly Team' when making this decision. Oh, this man had so much to learn about me. We agreed to have a follow-up lunch in two days where I would give him my decision. I knew that he would come fully prepared with contracts in hand in the hopes that I would be agreeing to sign them.

I called Cole on my way home to let him know how the meeting had gone. He said that he was already on his way to my house. When we met up, we poured ourselves a glass of Pinot Grigio and talked quietly. He knew what I wanted and he was amazed that Vance was making it so easy for me. During the time that I had left R&A, I had had meetings with my seven clients and they had all voided their contracts with R&A citing the Firm's inability to provide competent representation as their Ad Exec and A& D Team had departed. They had all subsequently signed letters of intent with me as their Ad Exec under whichever banner I would be housed in the near future.

That evening, the Team met at my brownstone as requested. I told them that it was basically a done deal about Vangard Advertising and outlined what we would be gaining. I told them that they would each receive a $20 000 (after taxes) signing bonus and receive a 5% salary increase. We discussed the fact that the standard of living was lower in Pittsburgh, taxes were lower, housing was cheaper, car insurance etc. so this was economically and financially speaking an excellent opportunity for us. I had already spoken to my realtor and had been provided with the name of a counterpart in Pittsburgh who was able to give me the run-down on the housing market. After some discussion, the Team had advised me that they would all be able to make the move with no issues.

The day when I met with Vance, I brought my lawyer with me to go over the contracts with a fine tooth comb. I also had contracts of my own for Vance to sign. He was ecstatic, he was sure that he was making a coup! He would be the talk of the Ave! Too bad for him he didn't realize how true that last statement was going to be, but not quite in the way that he was hoping.

What I didn't tell Brian was that when I left my lunch with Vance, the first thing I did after calling my Team and telling them that it was official and we were moving to Pittsburgh, was take a cab to my hairstylist and have her cut my hair into a choppy pixie style. That was my way of ending one chapter in my book of Life and turning the page to begin a new one.

After my recital, Brian was quiet and then he told me point blank that he had interviewed on the Ave a little over a year ago, but that his arrogant attitude had prevented him from being hired so why would I want to work with him, period. I hesitated and decided that if we were to have a completely open trusting relationship, that I would have to be honest with him. I told him about the behind the scenes manipulations that Vance had done to hold on to him. To say that he was pissed was an understatement. Then he took a deep breath and I could see what he was doing; he was putting this behind him. He was filing it away in the 'shit that happened in the past over which I have no control' drawer. Smart, it didn't make sense to waste time thinking about shit over which we had no control and could not change the outcome. We then went on to talk about what had been going on with this company for the last year. I reviewed all of the accounts which he had brought in and then we discussed the ones that I had brought. I asked him if there were accounts that had he wanted to go after and asked him to provide the reasons why. We worked and talked for the next two hours, putting together a plan of action for our firm. Our Firm. I liked the sound of that.

That Thursday afternoon, I flew to NYC to attend a gala Fundraising dinner for the Boys & Girls Club Of America (BGCA). Cole and I and my brothers had all benefited from that organization when we were growing up and had volunteered there ever since high school. This fundraiser was for the NY Advertising community, so I knew that I was bound to run into many former colleagues and peers; so I made sure that my shit was on point. New business cards declaring my title as Senior Partner at Vangard Advertising? Check! New fuck awesome gown that would catch the eye of everyone when I entered the room? Check! The gown was one that I had bought prior to leaving NYC and it was fuck awesome. It was a Nicole Miller of vibrant green satin; the color of lush grass after a light rain is how Cole described it when I came out of the dressing room at Saks Fifth Avenue to model it for him. It had a plunging back while the front was a conservative cowl neck which showed just a hint of the girls. I liked the dress, it was deceptive and intriguing. Head on you saw my demure conservative side, when you looked back after I walked away; you saw my daring sexy side. Yah! The dress was perfect; it was my 'I am woman hear me roar' dress. As I got ready that evening at my brother Bradd's apartment with Cole on video web chat watching and giving me hair and make-up advice, I was getting excited to see my fellow volunteers and leaders from BGCA as well as some of my peers from the Ave. Since they had all known me with my shoulder length bob, I knew that my 'swanky new haircut' as Jen had called it would also cause heads to turn. As I slipped on my matching green satin Manolo Blahnik Halters and slipped my invitation, lipstick and my BB into my clutch, I checked myself one last time in the mirror, said goodnight to my guys and headed out.

When I arrived at the gala that night, my entry into the banquet hall caused quite the stir. I had timed it so that I was fashionably late; not late enough that it was rude, but late enough where everyone else would be already seated and if I timed it just right I would be seen by everyone. I've always said that that bitch Fate had a fucked up sense of humor and tonight she proved it to me. Since at the time the gala guest list had been submitted, I was still working for R&A, tonight, I would be seated at the same table as my former colleagues! I was so going to enjoy this! As I made my way through the ballroom, I could hear the buzz begin when I was recognized by my peers. A few of them stopped as I passed by to congratulate me on my move, others to snicker about me giving the old 'fuck you' to Arthur Roosevelt. Some of them I had known for a long time, since college and returned their hugs with genuine pleasure and took their good wishes to heart.

When I finally made it to the R&A table, I saw my place card and approached the table and greeted them all, "Good evening everyone." I nodded to Arthur and said, "Nice to see you again, Arthur."

He inclined his head to me and said politely back, "Good evening Ms. O'Hara, glad that you could join us." I laughed recognizing his true sentiment which was 'fuck, I can't believe you would show up here this evening after what you did to us.'

I replied, "Arthur, the BGCA is too near and dear to my heart for me not to attend this fundraiser for them." Translation: 'fuck you asshole; you thought I would be afraid to show my face. I am here and standing proudly.' At that, I turned away from him and went around the table greeting my former colleagues. When I got to Erik, who was sitting next to me, he squeezed my hand under the table. Unbeknownst to everyone at R&A, Erik and I were fairly close, he was a few years ahead of me at Baruch and when I had started out at R&A, he was one of the few people who would even talk to me. He had made Junior Partner two years ago, but he was still a good guy. He was the only one at R&A whom I kept in touch with. I squeezed his hand in return and then we began to play the game.

"So Erik, how is your wife doing? I know that the last time we spoke you had mentioned that she was pregnant?" Erik stifled a smile, because I knew that Carla had already given birth; they had called me from the hospital the same night and had emailed me pictures of little Stefan.

"As a matter of fact, Dani we had a baby boy 4 days ago." He said and whipped out his wallet to show me the pictures. I fawned over the pictures and then whipped out my own set of Laina which he fawned over. We then decided to put an end to our 'polite chatting'; I didn't want to get him in trouble for 'cavorting with the enemy'. Like I said you have to know how to play the game.

The night went well, and we raised a spectacular amount of money for our chapter of BGCA. I reminded myself to ensure that I contacted the local chapter in Pittsburgh and transfer my volunteering efforts there. I was asked to dance by a lot of my peers, eager to get the dirt' about what had really happened. I refused to talk about it and of course that only fanned the flames of intrigue and mystery. I danced with a few of my former colleagues and it gave me and Erik a chance to have some fun and catch up. He told me that just before I had arrived tonight, Arthur had been crowing that I wouldn't have the guts to show up and so when I walked into the ballroom it had been a shock to him. I chuckled quietly at this and then we went to enter our bids for some hideously over-priced all expenses paid vacation getaway at an inn in Vermont. When I wrote down my name and my bid, I wrote my company down as Vangard Advertising. Well, lady luck is a friend of mine because I won the tickets and when the emcee announced "The winner of our fabulous all expenses paid week at the Thatcher Brook Inn in Vermont is Dani O'Hara of Vangard Advertising.", you could have heard a pin drop in the room, then the room erupted in applause and I knew this had nothing to do with me winning any damn trip, this was about recognition. As I stood to walk to the podium to accept my prize, all of the men at my table stood with the exception of Arthur Roosevelt, this was not lost on the people in the ball room and he definitely came off looking like a whiny, rude, sore loser. As I accepted my prize I said a few words about the BGCA and how it had impacted my life personally and that I was glad to see so many of my peers there tonight doing their part supporting an amazing and important cause. When I got back to my table, I was greeted with polite congratulations. My former boss Mr. Moss surprised me by telling me that he and his wife had gone there for their anniversary the previous year and that it was beautiful and lovely. I thanked him and had to restrain myself from cackling at the look on Arthur Roosevelt's face.

Later that night after mingling and handing out my business cards, (What? If, my peers were telling me that they wanted to stay in contact, how could I deny them?) I was standing at the bar drinking a Hypnosis, when a middle-aged man began talking to me. I knew that we had never met before, but we got to talking and soon we were talking about what we each did at the BGCA. He said that he liked my speech and that he had attended BGCA when he was younger. We stood at the bar and reminisced as to what we did both as children going there and as volunteers working there. After about 20 minutes he introduced himself as Bill Fullerton and said that he would like to meet with me about our company creating a campaign for him. I knew who he was, he was the new CEO of a well know appliance company whose brand loyalty had practically eroded away to nothing, whose stock price was currently in the toilet and who was days away from a do or die meeting with their Board of Directors. He was asking for my help on the Down Low, he didn't want the smell of the blood in the water to cause a frenzy among the sharks that were present in the ballroom. He told me that they needed a miracle and that I had come highly recommended. Here's the difference between my mentality and the mentality of the other Ad Execs on Mad Ave, I am not in the business of providing miracles. I am about applying sound business practices and my own created concepts. If my methodology saves your company and you believe that this is a miracle, then more power to you. I knew that my Team and I could turn this company around and return it to the zenith it once occupied in its market. The revenue it would generate for us would be astounding. In the long run. This was another thing that separated me from my peers on Mad Ave. I do not believe in the quick-fix approach. I do not believe in band-aids. Band aids are the devil's version of sticking your finger in the dyke – it may be effective right now, but eventually, you will run out of fingers and you will drown under the water and the crushing weight of the dyke when the pressure of the water becomes too great and the walls come crumbling down on you. I'm all for doing things carefully, efficiently and correctly now, to ensure that all is well later. I hid my surprise and pleasure and handed him a business card. He handed me his and we parted ways saying how much we had enjoyed one another's company and with him promising to call me Monday morning to arrange a meeting. By that time the event was over; I said goodnight to my former colleagues and my peers and returned to Bradd's happy and completely excited about the upcoming meeting with Bill Fullerton. It was after 11p.m. but I decided I had to call Brian.

He answered on the third ring. "Hello Ella."

"Hi Ian, I hope I didn't disturb you." I said hesitantly

He chuckled, "No, I was watching The Daily Show, but the guest is about to come on so I'm pretty much done with it." We laugh because everybody knows that Jon's opening monolog and sketches are usually the best part of the show. "How was the fundraiser?" he asked seemingly interested. I told him about the awkwardness of the table arrangement and the fact that everyone was drilling me for gossip. He got a big kick out of that. When I told him who I was chatting with at the bar and was going to call us Monday for a meeting, he whistled. "Hmm, that's good for us; he just took over as CEO and is known to have more of liberal stance than his father the previous CEO who retired earlier this year."

"That's exactly what I was thinking, I also just got off the phone with a friend of mine on the Street and the word is that the BOD have not been happy with the way the Firm has been performing the last two years and they are threatening to oust Fullerton from the board and get a 'real businessman in there' to turn the company around. So I think he's shopping around looking for that magical campaign to bring his company back from the brink and you know what that means for us."

I could tell that my excitement was rubbing off on Brian, "Yeah, we can use him as our first test-subject for the methodology!" Oh, he was hooked now!

"Exactly!"I enthusiastically agreed.

"So I was going to fly back tomorrow afternoon, but I'm going to take a car service back early in the morning, I want us to spend as much time tomorrow throwing some quick ideas together for when he signs with us."

He laughed out loud now, "Man, you are super-confident Ella!"

"I am, because our Team is the best at what we do and when we pitch to him, he'll see that what we come up with is going to bring his products into the 21st century and turn his company around."

We made some more small talk before we called it a night. At least the trip would be productive; I could put some quick ideas on paper for Brian and me to go over later.

When I walked into the office on Friday at 11a.m., we had our first staff meeting where Brian and I outlined the new policies including the one which we were all adhering to today- the casual Fridays policy. After explaining to everyone how we had combined out two groups and that we were now called the Advertising, Design and Client Transformation Group, we outlined the new methodologies and concepts which we were going to be implementing. We ended the meeting and we knew that we had given our new Team a lot to think about. Brian and I got together and exchanged ideas for our Fullerton campaign, brainstorming and working together at the small conference table in his office. We ate lunch there together, and it was around 2:45 when Cynthia popped her head in and said,

"Dani, you've got visitors."

I looked up to see Laina and Scottie and my eyes immediately started to tear up.

"Boobie!" I exclaimed, rushing to grab her out of Scottie's arms.

Her response was to mumble/scream/laugh and then grab at my cheeks which made, me, Scottie, Brian and Cynthia laugh. I leaned in to hug and kiss Scott as I continued to hold my little boobie.

"You're early!" I said to him.

"Yeah I know, but we were really anxious to get here." He said chuckling.

I turned to Brian, "Brian, Cynthia this is my brother Scott and this is our daughter Laina. Scottie, this is Brian and Cynthia." I was waiting for the reaction; we always made this introduction and then waited for people's reactions. We didn't have to wait long. Cynthia was the first to react; Brian was just doing a better job of hiding his curiosity.

"Uh, your brother…um" Cynthia began.

I decided to put her out of her misery. I laughed and said to her and Brian, "I am not Laina's biological mother, I am her adoptive mother; Scott is my adopted brother and he is her biological father." It may be confusing for outsiders to understand, but to us it was easy; we were family.

At that moment there was a squeal from the door and Ang and Cole barreled in and somehow Laina was snatched from my arms and I was shoved out of the ways while she was fawned over. I pouted and Scott and Brian laughed at me. I hugged Scott to me tightly and we kissed. I had missed him so much. The rest of the day was spent with Laina and Scott being introduced to everyone and she ended up in Brian's arms; he was pointing something out to her as they both looked out the window. I watched Cole and Scott catching up and it made me very happy. I had been raised in the same foster home as Scott, along with Bradd and Todd. We were eventually all adopted by our Foster parents and when Cole came into our lives; our foursome became a fuck awesome quintet. The five of us together have gone through hell and have done it together. We may not have been related by blood, but we were all very close.

The rest of the afternoon was spent just catching up and as it was Friday we all left at 4p.m. The weekend was spent playing with Laina, hanging out and catching up with Scott and showing them around my new stomping grounds.


	5. Truth In Advertising: Facing The Music

The Tale Of The Unapologetic & The Blatant

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Summary: Brian Kinney has it all; he's young, beautiful, talented and successful. He's a Senior Partner at Vangard Advertising, the top advertising agency in Pittsburgh and the heir apparent to the Managing Partner. Will the mysterious new arrivals change everything he thought he knew? Story contains OFC and OMC.

BPOV

I was restless. It was Friday afternoon, almost 4p.m. and I was counting down the hours till I was walking into Babylon. It had been a long week and I needed to let off some steam, get wasted and GET FUCKIN' LAID! When Dani called to let me know that we could call it a day, I sent all my people home and grabbed my shit, logged off my PC, locked my office and was on my way. As I reached into my closet for my leather jacket, I can't help but chuckle at my appearance. I'm wearing a black Armani dress shirt un-tucked, black Dolce & Gabbana jeans and black Prada ankle boots. Although it's the 4th casual dress Friday we've done here, I still can't get used to seeing myself in jeans at the office. That was one of the policies that Dani had suggested to me when things were restructured. She had been doing it with her Team for the past 3 years. Friday was the day that we did not have meetings or see clients. It was our day to catch up with our staff about what had transpired that week. Talk about what had gone well as well as what needed improvement. It was an open forum format and the best way she had learned was to have everyone on the same level; we all dressed casually and not formally and it would promote a more free flowing discussion. She was right, those sessions were a wealth of information as our staff seemed comfortable and forth coming and not intimidated. Like Dani is fond of saying, it's the little things that made the most difference.

As I walked to the elevator, I could see Cole and Dani talking animatedly and the last sentence she says to him is "Don't you know of any clubs here that we could just go to? I don't care what it is, once the music is good and fuck loud I don't care."

God, I love her filthy little mouth. When she's comfortable around you or in a fun mood, she has the mouth of a trucker. I don't know what compelled me to but I said "Well, if you're interested in great music, then you should go to Babylon, it's the best club in Pittsburgh."

I was walking on dangerous ground here. I hadn't mentioned to her that it was a gay nightclub. What did it matter? It was a nightclub first, it just happened to cater to gay men. As far as I know, Dani did not know that I was gay. It wasn't something that I hid, but it wasn't something that I felt the need to announce; it was just who I was. I didn't walk into a room and announce that I was left handed, but when you saw me writing you knew what I was. Same thing with my sexuality; I didn't walk into a room and announce that I was a fag, but if you saw me fucking a man in a corner of that room then you knew what I was.

Dani and I had been becoming closer these last few weeks and we were learning to trust each other, if that was to continue then she needed to know this about me. When they tell me that they were thinking of driving up to NYC to go clubbing, I reiterated that I thought Babylon was comparable to some of the nightclubs that I had been to. Soon it was settled, I gave them directions and we agreed to meet by the bar at 11:30p.m. and we go our separate ways in the parking garage. As I walk away I look at Dani, today she is wearing a pair of skin-tight black True Religion jeans, black Prada boots and a form fitting black Dolce and Gabbana cashmere sweater. I shake my head as I think about the fact that our tastes were so similar. I start my car and head around to the exit. I pull up behind Cole's Mustang and see that he is leaning out of his window motioning to someone on a bike. The person on the bike takes the helmet off and What The Fuck? It's Dani and she looks fuck sexy astride that bike. They finish their conversation, she blows him a kiss and is about to put on her helmet when she turns her head and spots me and gives me a little wave. I know I still have the shocked look on my face as I return the wave. I watch as she dons the helmet, revs the engine and pulls out in front of Cole. When she hits the street, she and Cole turn right and I turn left to head to the diner to meet the guys. I already know that this is going to be an eventful evening.

When I stroll into the diner Mikey, Emmett and Ted were already there and Debbie was taking their orders. I shrug out of my jacket and slide in next to Emmett and across from Mikey.

"Hello boys." I say.

I look at Deb and she asks "Turkey on rye?" I nod my head in thanks and she walks away to place our orders.

The guys are staring at me and Emmett says, "I know you've been doing it for a while now, but I'm still not used to seeing you in casual clothing during work hours." I laugh, see, I wasn't the only one who had to get used to it.

"So, are you all up for Babylon tonight?" I ask, Mikey and Emmett nod enthusiastically while Ted gives his lackadaisical non-committal 'Meh, I suppose.' Yeah, right like he had anything better to do tonight.

"Okay, so I think it's going to be a very interesting night, I invited my new partner and her assistant to come party with us tonight."

Mikey was the first to react. "Why do they need to party with you? You already work together 11 hours a day! Wait, do they know it's a gay club? Does she know you're gay?"

I answer his questions in the order he asked them."They want to party tonight and were thinking of driving the 5 hours back to NYC to hit up a club, why should they have to do that when we have Babylon here it's as good as clubs in NYC. No, I didn't tell them it was a gay club just that it was the best club in Pittsburgh and the music was fuck hot. No, I don't think she knows I am, but she will after tonight."

I sounded unfazed by this announcement, but to be honest I was a bit apprehensive. I had seen sexuality change people's opinions of others in a heartbeat. I mean my own mother hates me and thinks I'm going to hell because I fuck men. I was worried how this revelation would affect my relationship with Dani at work, although something told me that after everything that I had seen of her so far my sexuality would have zero impact on her. Well, we'll find out soon enough.

"So, are you going to be on your best behavior tonight, do you need us to behave? Emmett asks me.

"I'm just going to be who I am Em, why would I ask you all to do anything else?" He nods and then throws his hands in the air and 'queens out'.

"Good, because I am in the mood to party tonight, we'll show those New Yorkers how we do it here in the Pitts!" We all laugh at this pronouncement; Emmett brings the party with him wherever he goes.

He sobers up for a minute and then says "Wait a minute, if she's this stuffy, partner type person what is she still doing clubbing? Oh, God is she one of those older, sedentary women who are trying to relive their clubbing heydays?" I laughed at the appalled look on his face.

"No, she's our age. I have a picture of her, hang on." I fish my BB (yeah, all the employees now have them – mine is a custom color – hunter green to match the 'Vette) scroll through my email to the first one she sent me with her and her new car and show it to him.

"Holy fuck, she's hot!" he exclaims. That prompts the others to demand to see the picture and the BB makes the rounds of the table. Deb takes that moment to bring our food and of course she wants to see what we're looking at.

"It's porn Deb." I say refusing to show it to her. That of course spurs her on and she makes a grab for it. This makes Mikey yell out "Ma!" to which she replies by bopping him on the head. I show her the picture and she whistles and echoes Emmett's sentiments about Dani being hot. I scroll through and show her pictures that we took today so that Dani could email her guys back in NYC. Of course when they get to one of Cole, the whole table explodes.

"Who is that?" Ted barely gets out; he is practically hyperventilating.

"That's her assistant, Cole, the one that's coming with her tonight."

"Fuck, if I have my way, he'll be coming with me tonight and cumming with me tonight." Emmett announces as he continued to drool over the picture.

I look at the picture of Cole and admit that he is a good looking guy, if you like the Mark Wahlberg, buff kinda look back when he was Marky-Mark and stroking his junk while wearing his Calvin Klein underwear. Me, not so much. Cole just wasn't my type. I forwarded to a picture of me and Dani which was taken while we were talking to each other in the doorway of my office. I could see a picture of Gus on the credenza in the background. I study her and I admit that Dani is 'hot'. She's tall, almost as tall as I am when she's not wearing her heels and she's got a long lithe body, but you can tell it's solid. She's got nice medium tits a B/small C cup and she's got these slight elfin features. She has a short feathered pixie haircut with the choppy feathered side-swept bangs and has the biggest greenest eyes I have ever seen. They're like the color of the grass on the cliffs in Ireland. In the picture we're laughing at whatever we were just talking about. I try to remember and I think we were making fun of some of the truly outrageous episode premises of South Park (another passion we shared). This was about the episode 'Le Petit Tourette' and the fact that we felt so wrong for even laughing at it, but it was just so fucking funny. Even though we own every episode they released on DVD, we still watch the back to back episodes they show on Comedy Central every night. I smile at the picture and when the others look at it they are impressed. Deb says that she looks like a model, but she looks too skinny.

"Bring her by here, Bri and I'll put some meat on those skinny New York bones!"

That makes me laugh and I say "You should see her eat, we ordered Thai food today and she put away quite a bit of it. Here, see for yourself."

I scroll to the next picture to show them the amount of food on our plates. Cole's plate is heaped to the point where it's practically overflowing, as is mine, but we can clearly see Dani with a look of rapture as she is dipping her dumplings in tamarind sauce. I laugh out loud.

"She seems cool, and that Cole is a growing boy, mmm mmm mmm!" Emmett says. I can see that he is fixated on Cole.

"Guys, please do not hit on my co-workers." That would be the last awkward shit I need. Emmett pouts but he nods as he understands.

"There goes my chance at one true love, thwarted by Brian Kinney." He sighs dramatically and we all laugh.

I put away my BB and we eat our food in companionable silence. After we finish eating we hang out and catch up for a few hours. Before I leave I tell them that Dani and Cole are meeting us by the bar at 11:30p.m. and they agree to meet me there at 11p.m. As I drive home, I think back to the others' reactions on seeing the pictures of Dani. Yes, she is hot, I mean, I may be a fag, but I am a man and I'm not dead, but honestly other than appreciating her wardrobe, I have really been more enthralled with her mind since I met her. I sigh, I hope tonight wasn't one big fiasco. Later as I exited the shower and started getting ready for a night at Babylon, I tried to convince myself that I was not taking extra pains to make sure I looked fuck awesome tonight. I stopped midway through putting product in my hair as I realized that I, Brian Fucking Kinney, was trying to look good for a girl. I laughed out loud. What the hell was happening to me?

Soon, I am walking into the Babylon and the thumpa thumpa takes hold of me and I am in the zone.

DPOV

I was restless. We had been in Pittsburgh for just about a month now. Brian and I had signed Bill Fullerton's appliance company as our newest client; our first using our new methodology and concepts and we were happy with the way our Team was working to implement them to re-tailor his various appliances. The contract we signed with them was worth $48 million. The size of the account and the revenue it would generate was very respectable for the size of our operation and considering it was our first client with Brian and I working together. It was Friday afternoon and I was sitting at my desk reviewing the changes that had been implemented within the last month and I was pleased.

So now that the business end of my life was completely in control, I started taking stock of my personal life. Oh yeah, what personal life? For the last 6 weeks, my life had been all about keeping my integrity, my clients and now building the best Ad House on the East Coast. I hadn't really had a chance to think about anything other than business. Now I finally felt like I could take a breath and have a little fun for a change. First thing, I NEED TO GET FUCKIN' LAID! SERIOUSLY! I am so horny that I am tempted to go back to NYC just to visit one of my friends. The last time I got laid was exactly 5 weeks ago. It was the day I sold my brownstone in Brooklyn. The realtor came over to let me know that the place had sold. A bottle of champagne to celebrate and one thing led to another and we were fucking on the bed in one of my guest rooms. It was a hell of a celebration, an amazing fuck from an amazing realtor. The listing price that we had agreed upon was significantly inflated, but the realtor assured me that people would be willing to pay that price. Within a day of the place being listed, there was a huge bidding war; the offer I had accepted was for $316, 000 over my asking price with the buyer agreeing to pay all closing costs and fees. Only in NYC, people. Brownstones are the rage and the Heights section of Brooklyn is a real estate dabbler's dream. It was the first piece of property I had bought. I paid for it with my first bonus from R&A. I owned it outright. I spent another $300,000 liquidated from my investment portfolio on renovations, restorations and modernization. It was well worth it. The listing price was 4 and a half times what I had paid for it 5 years previously. The contractors I had hired came highly recommended from one of my colleagues at R&A who did property flipping on the side. He told me that he made more doing that than with his actual salary.

In the last 5 years I had flipped 4 properties and made a killing. I saw the downturn in the market coming early and decided not to be greedy and opted to get the hell out while the going was still good. I was lucky, the housing market bubble burst soon after and a lot of my fellow flippers lost their shirts. The only one who knew what I was doing on the side was Cole. He was my business partner. He put up half the capital each time and so we split everything 50/50. While I worked the specifics – the designs, architecture, renovation needs, hiring the contractors etc. and ensured that everything was on budget, Cole was the Project Manager to ensure that the various contractors/builders/plumbers etc. stayed on timeline. I swear that man had MS Project opened on his PDA or PC at all times back in those days. Every day I thank my lucky stars for Cole being in my life. He has turned out to be not only my best friend, but one of the shrewdest, most savvy business people I have ever met. Thinking about Cole made me acknowledge my second problem, I desperately need to let off some steam; I need to find a club stat! While in NYC, Webster Hall was our destination of choice. It's 4 floors of the most fuck awesome music; whatever you're in the mood for you'll find it there – Rock/Pop/Indie Music/Salsa/Techno. Shit, if you're in the mood for some fucktastic old school House music, you'll find it there! Thinking about the Hall makes me even more restless. I look at the clock and discover that it's after 4p.m. I press the train whistle I have on my desk to indicate to Cole that it's quitting time and then I send out an IM to my guys letting them know that if there is nothing pressing that they are working on that they can leave for the day and to have a great weekend. I call Brian and tell him the same for him and his guys. I logoff my PC, grab my jacket, lock my office and meet Cole by his station.

"I am so ready to get the fuck out of here." He says letting out a frustrated sound and I know that I'm not alone in being keyed up. "I need to get laid and get my dance on in the worse fucking way." He whines. Have I told you how much I love this man? Yeah, I have? Well, fuck you, I'll tell you again, Cole is fuck awesome.

"Fuck, I thought that it was just me. I am so restless and fucking horny right now." I agree, heaving a dramatic sigh. "Do you wanna drive to NY tonight and go to the Hall?" I ask eagerly.

He looks at me and says, "I love you, that's exactly what I was going to suggest to you." By this time, we're standing in front of the elevator waiting for a car.

"Where are we going to crash? At Bradd's? He's got the second guest room? Fuck, Bradd's Out Of Town this weekend, he's in Memphis."I say quickly trying to think things through.

"You know what, why don't we just get a hotel room for 2 nights?" Cole says.

I seriously consider it; a few hundred for a quick trip to NYC to get laid and to dance the night away. We look at each other and we know it's not practical.

"Don't you know of any clubs here that we could just go to? I don't care what it is, once the music is good and fuck loud I don't care." I'm desperate and bordering on whiny now. I'm about to start stamping my foot and going into full meltdown tantrum mode any second now.

"Well, if you're interested in great music, then you should go to Babylon, it's the best club in Pittsburgh." Brian says from behind us.

We turn around and look at him like we were two drowning souls and he had just tossed us two life preservers.

"You two look kind of desperate, what gives?" he asks.

"Well we were just considering driving to NY to go back to our club just to go party and have some fun." Cole says, and I swear he emphasized the word 'fun'. Brian laughs and says that we should definitely check out Babylon and that he's been to a few clubs in NY and that it's comparable. He says that he and his friends go there every weekend and that we should meet them there tonight. We get directions and we make plans to meet Brian at the bar at 11:30p.m. We walk out to the parking garage and I walk to the Red Scorpion – my Triumph Scrambler. Since it's casual Friday and we dressed down, I was wearing all black; my favorite midnight black form fitting True Religion jeans, black Prada boots and a form fitting black Dolce and Gabbana cashmere sweater. To top it all off I was wearing my custom designed fitted black leather jacket with a Scorpion embossed on the back. Cole and I kiss goodbye and he agrees to pick me up at my place at 11p.m. The three of us part ways and I head to my bike. I hop on, put on my helmet and start the engine. The engine sounds like a wild animal; powerful, dangerous and sexy! Gah, I am so fucking horny! I back out and make my way to the exit. On the way, I wave at Cole as he waits for me to go ahead of him. He powers down his window and motions for me to take my helmet off. I do and he proceeds to tell me to dress up tonight so that we could show the Pitts how New Yorkers like to party. I throw my head back and laugh heartily and assure him that I was going to 'bring it' tonight. I blow him a kiss and as I'm about to put my helmet back on, I see Brian's Stingray pull up behind Cole's Mustang. I take a moment to give a quick wave, put my helmet on, rev the engine and exit the garage. As I hit the street, I laugh silently at the look of shock on his face seeing me on that bike. Yeah, most people have that reaction when they see me on it. I have been told by many a gal and quite a few men that I look sexy as all hell on that bike. Oh, Brian Kinney how I love shocking you. I headed home to pick something fucktastic to wear tonight for our debut on the Pittsburgh dance club scene, oh hells yeah I was gonna 'bring it'! Tonight I was in the mood for_ LETHA_!

BPOV

When I arrive at Babylon the guys are already waiting for me at the bar.

"Hello boys." I greet them. Emmet is the first to say anything.

He hugs and kisses me and then says excitedly, "Hi Bri, can't wait for your people to get here and I promise that I will be on my best behavior; Scout's honor!" He salutes and winks and we all laugh.

"I still don't see why they need to party with you too, you work with them and they are not your friends." Mikey says.

"Mikey, just let it go, Dani and Cole seem like cool people and they are new in town, besides, what's the harm in me making new friends." I say.

I sense that Mikey is afraid that he will lose me to the hot new out-of-towners. Mikey can be a jealous insecure little boy at times. As we talk and drink a few beers, I constantly scan the dance floor looking for Dani and Cole. There is a slight disturbance in the crowd, I look to the entrance and I see the two of them appear at the edge of the dance-floor. They are nodding to the music, scoping the scene and I could tell the moment they realize just what type of nightclub they are in. My secret is out. They look at each other and laugh and start making their way across the floor to the bar. As they walk they part the crowd and everyone is openly checking them out, but they seem unaware. Standing next to me, Emmett is very aware of them and is openly staring as well.

"Bri those photos did not do these two justice they are delicious, and way to make an entrance." he says in my ear.

Suddenly, the beat changes and Dani and Cole start circling each other on the floor. The opening bass to BodyRockers 'I Like The Way You Move' starts playing and I can see them mouthing the opening dialog to each other. When the song kicks in they completely lose their shit and start really dancing, thrashing and gyrating to the music. You can see that they are obviously very comfortable with each other's body because they dance very closely and are constantly touching, it looks like their moves are choreographed, but truly it comes from dancing with someone for many years. If I had to describe it looks like they are fucking; then I begin to wonder at their relationship. Sometimes, it's brother/sister, other times it's husband/wife, sometimes they act like lovers. I know that they are best friends and would kill for each other, but I wonder if there was more to it than what you see on the surface.

When the song finishes they are laughing hysterically and you can see that this is exactly what they needed to blow of the steam that has been building for them the past month. I notice that Ted and Michael have been watching the two as well and I wonder for the 100th time tonight how they are going to react to Dani and Cole. I watch as Cole picks Dani up and throws her across his back and then resumes making his way across the floor to the bar. Dani is already having a great time, she is singing along to some Techno shit that's currently playing; she's got one arm wrapped around Cole's neck/chest while she is pumping her other fist in the air in time to the song. I see her turn to the DJ booth and give the man a thumbs up which he returns with a nod of acknowledgement. Fuck, she hasn't even been here 10 minutes and already she's caught the eye of the DJ. That means he'll be watching her all night and playing music he thinks she'll like. I grin to myself, yes; this night is really going to be interesting. When they near the bar the crowd parts and I get my first real glimpse of the two of them as they dance their way over to us. I quickly introduce everyone and we all check each other out. The guys are all salivating over Cole and he is looking particularly 'delicious' as Emmett said earlier. The leather pants he is wearing are hugging his butt like a second skin and the outline of his unfettered cock is clear for all to see and yeah, he is packing. The see-through shirt he is wearing gives you an unobstructed view of his muscular upper body, his sleek abs and… his nipple ring. Holy shit, just when you think you know someone. Who knew he was hiding _all that_ under his Hugo Boss suits at work? I shake myself and stop looking at Cole's nipple and his junk; he's off limits.

Then I turn and really look at Dani. She is wearing the same leather pants as Cole and if anything hers are tighter and she is clearly not wearing anything under them either. She is wearing a matching leather halter and her girls are up and out on full display. Over that she wears the same type of see-through shirt as Cole, only hers stops about 2 inches above her navel, which is pierced. Holy Shit, wonders never cease. I would never have pegged either of them to be into piercings. Just goes to show, you really should never judge a book by its cover. On her feet she is wearing 3 inch heels that match the pants and halter. What woman wears 3 inch heels to dance all night? We all do a shot of Tequila and then Dani and Cole do a full on make out. When they are done they turn to us and wait for our reaction. We all burst out laughing, it's like their way of saying 'hey, look we're here we know type of place this is, we're cool with it, we're not uptight and we are up for anything'.

I turn to them and say "I saw you two really got into the music as soon as you walked in, so do you like it so far?" They nod enthusiastically and then Dani notices that Emmett has been staring at her and not saying anything.

She turns to him and says in her thick New York accent "Dude are you staring at my fucking tits?"

He gets all flustered and then turns to me for help. I, of course know that she's joking around with him and I start laughing.

"I'm just yanking your chain, Em." She says and laughs and gives him a quick hug.

I can't help but grin; I knew that the two of them would hit it off.

He sighs dramatically and wipes his brow. "Okay, now that that's out of the way," he steps back and inspects her from head to toe and asks, "How the fuck did you get into those pants?"

Dani throws her head back and laughs and I can tell that she likes him already. She likes his bluntness. She leans forward and whispers in his ear. Whatever she says causes him to first smile and then blush. I have never seen this man blush and here he is as red as a tomato. She winks at him and we all turn to the dance floor. As we all dance together, I can't seem to keep my eyes off the two of them, they move so well together and they talk and take in the club as they move around the floor. I can also tell that they are people-watching but can't pinpoint exactly who. Since there are usually a few heteros here, I figure that Dani will have her pick of some man meat too. Suddenly I see them walking off the floor and heading towards the back room. What The Fuck? Maybe they're just curious to see what goes on in there as it's probably their first visit to one. After about 10 minutes they come back to the floor and Dani starts dancing with Emmett and Cole dances with Ted. I am dancing with Mikey who I know is annoyed that I am spending my time looking at Cole and Dani and not paying him much attention.

As the club fills up the temperature skyrockets and pretty soon most of the guys start taking their shirts off. I look over and I see that Dani has also removed hers and has it tied around her waist. It is quite clear that she has a banging body and that navel piercing is just winking in the lights of the club. When she turns I see that she has a colorful, detailed tattoo of a scorpion on her left shoulder, it looks very similar to the tattoo of a centipede Cole has on his left shoulder. We all switch partners and dance with each for the next couple of hours. Dani and I dance well together and laugh and talk while enjoying the release that we are getting from the music. When she and Cole are back dancing together I see him pull a vial out of his pocket and put a tablet on his tongue and then lean in and kiss Dani. I watch enthralled as she sucks the pill off his tongue and then they continue to kiss until it dissolves and she swallows it down. He hands Dani the vial and she takes a pill and puts it on her own tongue and leans into him. He sucks the pill off her tongue and swallows the pill down once it dissolves. They continue to kiss and when she turns her head and sees me watching she hands me the vial. I take one of the pills and then pass the vial to the others. I watch as Cole picks her up, she wraps her legs around his waist and they make their way, still full on tonguing one another to the back room.

To say that I am not intrigued is an understatement. I ease away from the others and make my way to the back room as well. I find them almost to the very back of the room. Cole is facing the wall and this beautiful dark-haired man is fucking him. Dani's standing next to Cole, back against the wall and they are still tonguing one another. I am so turned on from watching them that I barely notice when a trick opens my pants and deep throats me. As he sucks my cock, I continue to watch the action across from me in the dark shadows of the room. I can see Dani's chest rising and falling rapidly and I realize that the guy that's fucking Cole is finger fucking Dani. She is definitely enjoying it, because I hear her moan, a distinctly feminine moan among the male moaning and grunting. This causes heads to turn to where the sound is coming from and they look in surprise, appreciation and then acceptance of the woman's presence. Hey, we're all back here to please and be pleased. I can tell that every time she moans into Cole's mouth, that turns him on which causes him to clench around the guy who's now pounding into him. This causes the guy to pound him even harder and to finger fuck Dani harder. Soon, the guy fucking Cole cums, then Dani cums, the husky yet distinctly feminine scream-growl echoing around the room and going straight to my cock. Cole cums next and then I groan and shoot my load down the trick's throat. Holy fucking hell, I just had a fivesome! I watch as the three of them tidy themselves and then the guy who was finger fucking Dani raises his hand to his mouth and licks her pussy juices clean off of each of his fingers. He leans in and whispers in her ear making sure that he's close enough to Cole so that he can hear. Whatever he says causes Cole to bite his bottom lip and Dani to moan, shudder and almost collapse onto Cole's shoulders as the guy turns and walks away. When she regains control of herself, he chuckles, they kiss and then make their way out of the back room.

Wow, these two are really into the party scene. Who would have thought it? Who would have thought that Cole was gay? Who would have thought that he was a bottom? Who would have thought that he and Dani like to tongue one another? Who would have thought they were into piercings? Who would have thought they had tats? Who would have thought they did E? They are obviously very close if he is comfortable with her being with him while he gets fucked and vice versa if she doesn't mind him being there as she gets finger fucked. The DJ starts playing P!nk's U+UR hand (Jesus Fucking Christ, if only he knew whose hand had been where) and Dani loses her shit. This is obviously an anthem for her and Cole leaves her so she can enjoy it on her own. I see that he doesn't go far from her and is always in a position to watch her. She's jumping up and down and thrashing and banging her head to the music. She is in her zone; hands in the air as she gyrates her body, swinging her hips and then double fist punching the air. She's a sight to behold and I can see that she is really into just feeling the music. When the song finishes she looks up and sees me and comes over and we start dancing.

I am smiling as I lean in to her and say in her ear, "I see you're getting acquainted with the many offerings of our fine establishment, are you enjoying yourself?"

She smiles and replies, "Definitely."

She probably figures that I know that she went to the back room; no need for her to know that I was there and saw just how much she was enjoying herself. She is wearing a big-assed Cheshire Cat grin and she looks like someone who recently had an orgasm after not having one for quite a while! Martin Solveig's 'Boys & Girls' begins playing and we both sing the words at each other. She is smirking as we sing the words and I feel as though there is something that I am missing, something that she is trying to tell me. We dance well together and for about the 1000th time since I met her I wish that she was a guy, because I would definitely be into her. She was cool and we had all these things in common. We would be perfect together. I look at her and she begins to sing the words directly at me:

Popsicle French boy, sure of yourself  
I could get to know you but I just want to dance  
I'm gonna make it clear  
Parler vous français  
Ce n'est pas possible  
Now, get out of my way

She leans into me, licks my ear, whispers "Gotta go." and then steps around me.

I see her and Cole share a glance and then she and a Japanese girl start circling each other. Any doubts that the DJ's music tonight was just coincidence are quickly erased when there is a pause and then the beginning beat of P!nk's 'Oh My God' starts playing. I stand confused for a few seconds and then burst out laughing. Dani Fucking O'Hara is a dyke! Even I recognize a mating ritual when I see one. Dani and this girl are stalking each other. The song is sexy, husky, throaty and drips sex. The guy that I had been cruising just before Dani and I started dancing comes over and we start dancing and kissing. I can see Dani and the girl over his shoulder and I watch as they move until there are mere inches apart and then lick their lips in anticipation as they appraise each other. I watch as the Japanese girl starts licking various points on Dani's body, her neck, her cleavage , the tattoo on her back and then slides down her thighs and licks her navel. I notice that Dani is staring directly at me over the girl's shoulder and now she licks her lips at me. That turns me on so much that I feel my dick jump against the trick. He moves closer to me and I continue to knead his ass through his jeans. She smirks at me and I know that she is as turned on by our silent exchange as I am. I wonder to myself what she would look like while she was fucking. I watch her eyes close as the Japanese girl licks behind her ear. I watch them as they begin writhing against one another and before the song is over, Dani leans in, says something and the deal is closed when the girl nods her consent. They pull back to look each other in the eye and then share a passionate kiss before heading to the exit.

By now the trick is rubbing my cock through my jeans and I am so turned on by that animalistic display that I need to fuck him now. I motion to the trick to follow me as I head over to the bar where the other guys are talking.

"Holy fucking hell." I say to Cole.

"Yeah, she's a sight to behold, isn't she, our Dani?" he smirks.

I can see that he's not worried, but I can't help but be a bit concerned. He must have seen the look on my face and he leans in and says, "She's a big girl, she can take care of herself Brian and this ain't her first rodeo." I nod to him.

Just then Emmett leans into us and says, "Hey why don't we all meet up at the diner for brunch later, say 11a.m.?"

We all agree and I give Cole the directions and he promises to pass them on to Dani later. Mikey, Ted and Emmett all leave with their tricks and Cole and I walk out with our companions a bit later. We stand on the sidewalk and briefly chat about the fact that we were all unaware of the others' sexuality and what kind of gays were we, obviously out gaydar was defective. We go our separate ways until 11a.m. I take the trick back to the loft and we fuck for hours. He was good, and he had an almost 9 inch cock, that almost taxed my gag reflex. Almost. He gave the best head I have ever had and had one hell of an ass; tight and firm just the way I like them.

We're all at the diner by 10:45a.m. All except Dani. Cole laughs at that and calls her.

"What?" she answers, her voice husky.

Cole is smiling as he answers "You're on Speakerphone and where are you?"

"In bed." is her answer.

Cole laughs and says, "By the way, we're all wondering when you're going to get here."

There is a long pause followed by a moan and then she asks "Uhh…where is there and who is we?"

Cole is rolling his eyes now "Daniella…we talked about this earlier, I told you we were meeting Brian and his friends for brunch at the diner and I sent you the directions."

We hear rustling in the background and then Dani's voice as she says something in Japanese followed by two sets of giggles. Ah, she is still with the Japanese girl. The giggling is contagious and the five of us sitting at the diner booth huddled around the speakerphone burst out laughing. Looks like someone had a good night and is still having a good night.

Dani laughs and says "I'll be there in 30."

To which Cole replies "Take your time, you'll need it to get those pants back on. By the way this place has great coffee. Hurry, up, love."

We all laugh out loud again, we've all been there, leather pants are a bitch to get off and then back on after you've been wearing and sweating in them for hours.

Still laughing Dani says "See you in a bit, love." and they hang up.

As Cole puts his phone away he is grinning like a Cheshire Cat. We chat about this and that while we enjoy our first cups of coffee until true to her word, 30 minutes later Dani strolls into the diner. She slides into the booth next to Cole and across from me.

I smirk at her "Well almost good afternoon to you."

She opens her mouth to answer me but what comes out is the biggest yawn EVAH! She quickly tries to cover her mouth and stifle it, but is unsuccessful. The table erupts in laughter and even she has to laugh at herself. She puts her head on Cole's shoulder and he kisses her head.

"My, my, someone's really tired." He says, smirking at her and kissing her on the forehead.

"Yup." she says, popping the P like a teenager.

"So, what's good here, what are we eating?" she says, trying to deflect the attention off of her.

As she shrugs out of her jacket Emmett looks over at her and says "Oh, no honey, you got to spill. You can't put on a show like the one you did last night and come in here talking about pancakes."

She realizes that she is caught and that Emmett is about to 'queen out' on her, so she decides to go for a compromise.

"Okay, how about this, we order and while the food comes, I can have my coffee so I can be fully awake to honestly and fully answer your questions?"

Em agrees to this and the waitress comes over and takes our order. Most of us order omelets while Dani orders a short-stack with strawberries and bananas on the side and a large mug of coffee. When the waitress returns with her coffee Dani practically pounces on it, takes the first swallow and then moans in pleasure. Fuck! There it is again, that moan went straight to my dick. She takes her hat and shades off and puts them behind her on her coat. Cole leans over to her and they kiss. They are both grinning like Cheshire Cats.

"So…" Cole says expectantly. She takes a deep breath, "Her name is Ayako, she's 34, she's an investment banker, she invited me to a club the next time I'm in Tokyo, she has a very talented tongue and she is insatiable."

As she finishes Mikey is choking on his coffee and she looks at him curiously.

"What?" She looks at Cole to see if he knows what the problem is.

"I think he's shocked at how blatant you are." He says and I notice that he has subtly emphasized the word blatant. God, Mikey can be such a pretentious, judgmental person sometimes and I know that this is not going to end well.

Emmett, bless his nosy self asks "How talented, on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the best you've ever had?"

She thinks about it and then says "She's a solid 8."

Cole's head whips around and he stutters, "What, you mean she's better than…who did the thing with the thing…?" Dani nods, and Cole stares at her open-mouthed.

The rest of us are looking from Cole back to Dani and then back to Cole curiously.

Emmett meanwhile is leaning across the table and practically yells "Who's who that did the thing with what thing?"

Dani turns to Emmett, winks and says "Em, I'm sorry but that conversation would definitely be too blatant (and I have to resist the urge to laugh as she puts a huge emphasis on the word blatant while looking straight at Mikey) for this table."

Have I mentioned how much I like Dani? Yes? Well, fuck you I'll say it again. I really really like this woman.

Everyone laughs at her joke except Mikey who returns to sullenly drinking his coffee. I knew from the time that I had told Mikey that I was inviting them that he didn't approve, but I didn't understand the hostility he was showing to Dani and not Cole.

The food arrives and Dani turns to Emmett "So, what about you, Em. I saw that Power Top in the purple shirt checking you out before I left and we saw him earlier and he was hung." Cole nods in agreement.

She is deep into the gay scene if she can identify the guy that accurately, and I think that I am the only one who realizes that she and Cole could only have seen that the guy was hung in the back room. That conversation would open a can of worms and Mikey will burst a blood vessel over that for sure.

"Oh my God, his name is Christophe, he's French, an artist, 8 and a half, cut and talk about insatiable, he was like the Energizer bunny, or more like the Energizer jackhammer." Emmett announces. Ted is the first to laugh at his jackhammer reference and then Emmett, to drive home his point, starts bucking against the table like he's being drilled from behind by a jackhammer. Dani lets out that giggle again and just like before it makes all of us laugh even Mikey.

She turns to Mikey and asks politely, "What about you Mikey, did you have a good evening too?"

He looks at her and says, "Obviously not as good as yours, but it was good, thank you."

Uh oh, here comes the bitch-flip, Dani is about to light into him when Emmett reaches across the table with his fork, helps himself to the bananas on her plate and says "Oh, please Mikey, from the way you were hollering and calling on Jesus last night, you had more than just a 'good' time. If I had to judge from over the years I'd have to rate that as one of your top 10."

Oh Fuck Me! Emmett just called out Mikey! Dani takes Emmett's hand and whispers 'I Love You' and puts her hand over her heart. He mimics the gesture and whispers the same back to her.

Ted leans forward and says in a serious voice, "Emmett, now that was just blatant."

Ted's response is so out of the blue for him that I'm the one who almost chokes on my omelet as the entire table dissolves in fits of laughter again.

Dani turns to look at Ted and before she can asks he says, "His name was Dillon, he was about 8 inches uncut, he's a doctor, he was great and he's taking me out to dinner tonight."

I can tell that he's been waiting to get this off his chest since we all sat down to eat. Good for Theodore.

"Sweet." Dani says to him smiling.

Suddenly, Emmett looks at Cole and Dani in this weird way, and I know now that he's picked up on the comment Dani made about her and Cole seeing Christophe's junk. Fuck. This is not going to be pretty.

"Wait, a minute, how did you two know that Christophe was hung?"

Dani and Cole look at each other and then back to Emmett. "We saw him in the back room earlier in the night."

Mikey, Ted and Emmet are looking at her and Cole like they have two heads.

"What?" they say in unison.

Here it comes, wait for it, wait for it… "You were in the back room?" Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Asshole Mikey has made his appearance as he stares disbelievingly at Dani.

"Yes, I was. Why, is it supposed to be off limits to women, cuz I didn't see a sign?"

I can hear that Dani is thisfuckingclose to going off on Mikey and I can see by the position of his arm, that Cole has his hand on her thigh under the table in an attempt to restrain her. Mikey mumbles something about her being a 'liberal woman', which I know he's just using as a euphemism for slut. I decide that I need to step in; he is after all my friend.

I see that Dani is about to go off on him and I kick her leg under the table and then turn to Mikey and say "Don't mind him; Mikey is just being a judgmental, sexist, misogynistic asshole, right Mikey?"

He catches the tone of my voice and knows that I am pissed at the way he is behaving. As part of a minority ourselves, we as gays hate for others to pass judgment on us or how we act just because we don't fit a specific societal norm. He of all people should be the last one to pass judgment on anyone else. Besides, we have these types of conversations and even more 'blatant' ones all the time. What the fuck is his problem?

Mikey takes a breath and says, "I'm sorry, I don't know you and I shouldn't judge you, it's just that I've never heard a woman be so open about what she likes or does sexually and it's startling. I'm sorry that I came across as a judgmental, sexist, misogynistic asshole."

Dani looks him in the eye and I can tell that she is still pissed off. The interesting thing though is that she doesn't seem hurt she looks disappointed.

"I accept your apology Michael and I have to tell you that if you and I are going to be spending any time together you are going to have to get used to the fact that I'm a woman who speaks my mind. I like what I like and I know what I want. I'm a very sexual person and I don't mind talking about anything sexual. I like to fuck and I'm not ashamed of that and I will never apologize or be made to feel ashamed for that or for who I am or just because I'm a woman and should be conforming to some sort of societal standard. If I am, however, asked a question like I have been today, then I will give an honest answer."

At the end of her speech Ted, Emmett and I all say, 'hear, hear' and just like that the black cloud lifts off the table. I could not have put it any better myself. I like her more and more, she is who she is and she is unapologetic. She turns to smiles at me and I know it's thanks for dealing with Mikey. I know now that the fact that she has gone back to using his full given name means that she has decided that he will be no friend of hers. I love Mikey, but that's his loss.

She turns to Cole and smiles at him, "So what about you love, how was the blond?"

He looks at her and smirks. "First off you were right and second he was fuck awesome! I didn't leave his place until 8 this morning."

"Sweet." She says and kisses him.

I'm in the middle of stealing a piece of banana from her plate when I ask Cole, "What was she right about?"

She looks down and Cole actually blushes. Neither of them makes a move to answer and Ted yells out, "Is it one of those blatant things, cuz if it is I want to hear it now!"

She pretends to be busy eating the rest of her breakfast. Then she takes her time finishing off her coffee. Oh shit, this must be bad. I have never seen her so rattled.

Finally, I guess the silence is just too much and Mikey says "I want to know, even if it's blatant."

She finally looks up and says. "Okay, I'll tell you, but first I need you all to promise that you will never ask me to demonstrate it on you." We nod like the sheep that we are and promise.

Cole starts to speak "Okay, Dani has a super-power."

We all turn to her and she ducks her head and blushes. We all wait expectantly as Cole continues, "She can look at a man's crotch and correctly guess the length his penis will be when hard." Dani drops her head onto the table and I know her well enough to know that she must be completely mortified. This is such an interesting juxtaposition. She is a strong confident business woman and has no problems discussing blatantly sexual things, but when it comes to something about herself she is shy. It's kind of endearing. The four of us remain quiet, but as soon as she picks her head up to gauge our reactions we all stand and say in unison,

"Guess me."

She groans out loud and motions for the waitress. When she comes over, Dani asks for warm apple pie and another cup of coffee. Christ, she can put away some food! I guess she must have really worked up an appetite with Ayako!

We all ask for the same and then Dani turns to us, "Would you guys sit down and did you not just promise that you would never ask me to demonstrate on you?" We sit, mumbling all the while and then turn to Cole.

"She's right all the time?" Ted asked incredulously.

Cole looks at him and replies, "In the 10 years that we've known each other, she's only been wrong once." We all look at Dani.

"Tell them why I was wrong." she says to him.

"The guy was wearing a prosthetic penis over his real junk." Cole tells the story and we all laugh as he tells us about how and when the 'discovery of the deceit' took place.

"So, have you always listened to her?" Mikey asks reverently.

Cole shakes his head and has the good grace to look chagrined "There was this time about 3 years ago, we were in Vegas at Tao nightclub and I saw this man, oh, he was gorgeous. We got to talking and we had so much in common and he was a good conversationalist and everything was going great and when I looked to her for the signal, she shook her head. I thought for sure that he would be packing; I mean the guy had everything else going for him, right. So, I decide to close the deal anyway and we go back to his suite at the Bellagio and things started out great, a lot of sucking, rimming and then he took off his boxer briefs and I was blown away. He was hard and he was about 3 inches. So I decide to take one for the Team, you know. Once I left his suite, I went back to our suite at the Luxor and when I opened the door, Dani had already ordered one of every desert on the room service menu. So, that night we commiserated and I have never not listened to her again. That was also the last night either of us ate flan again, that shit is just nasty." He looks at Dani and laughs and they kiss.

She turns to me and says, "So last but certainly not least, what about you? How was your night, did you leave with that guy you were kissing when Ayako and I left? How was he?"

I smirk at her, I love how 'blatant' she is, "As a matter of fact, I left with that guy, his name was Cody, and he was very good. He also had a talented tongue."

She held up her hand for me to stop and then closed her eyes. "Oh, I remember him; he was a big boy, almost 9 inches, right?"

Everyone looks from her to me and then back. "What? What the fuck did I say now?"

I answer her question. "They're used to me being the most sexually explicit and unapologetic at the table so this is going to take some getting used to. To answer your question, yes, he was a big boy, but I've seen bigger."

"I bet you have." she mumbles and we both know that we're both talking about me now. I'm sure she's used her 'super-powers' on me and knows that I have indeed seen bigger-my own. She refuses to look me in the eye and I kick her foot again and she giggles. God, I love that giggle; it sets us all off again.

By now, it's like 3 in the afternoon, we've finished our dessert and we're wondering what everybody's doing for the rest of the day. Emmett, Cole and Dani are all talking and exchanging contact information, I smirked to myself; I knew that those 3 would hit it off. We all have our own plans and we exit the diner and go our separate ways. I watch as Cole stoops and Dani climbs on his back for a piggy back ride as they both laugh and cross the parking lot to his Mustang. He unlocks and opens the passenger door, sets her down and kisses her before she jumps in. We wave at one another as they exit the lot and I smile at what a revelation the last 15 hours have been.

DPOV

When I get home, I make myself a sandwich and watch some television while I eat it – there's an NCIS marathon on USA Network and I settle in to enjoy it; God that Tony DiNozzo is fuck hot. At 9:30p.m. I take a long shower, and then walk into my closet to search for an outfit in the 'party-clothes' section of the walk in. There's some eclectic outlandish shit here; there's feathers, sequins, rubber, vinyl, but tonight, tonight it's about the _LETHA_. I find what I'm looking for, a pair of midnight black, custom made kid leather, boot-cut low-rise pants. They fit like a glove and seriously take about 10 minutes to shimmy into. The top is the matching leather halter which makes the girls really stand out and up. Over that I wear a black see-through, fitted long sleeved top which stops about two inches above my navel, putting my navel piercing on display, the diamond cap at the top twinkles with my every move. I think about the fact that Brian will probably learn a lot about me and Cole tonight and I wonder how he will react. We don't wear our sexuality on our sleeves, but we don't hide it either, if you ask us and we think you deserve to know we'll tell you. If it bothers you then fuck you, that's your problem. I think he'll be shocked about me, just because everything about me has shocked him so far. Cole will be a shock too, he is the least gay looking bottom I have ever seen. When he 'queens out' however, there is no doubt. I wear no make-up; I'm going to sweat it off so what's the point? I stopped midway through putting product in my hair as I realized that I, Daniella Fucking O'Hara, was trying to look good for a boy. I laughed out loud. What the hell was happening to me? Just then Cole buzzes the Intercom.

"Hey, Babe, I'll be right down." I buzz back.

He buzzes again and asks, "You don't need help with your pants?"

I buzz back and laugh as I say "Nah, I got 'em on myself this time."

Within minutes we're on our way to Babylon. We find a parking spot and make our way to the club.

As we're walking Cole grabs me, looks me up and down appreciatively, kisses me soundly and then says "You luck fucktastic tonight, Babe." I return the kiss and then throw my head back and laugh. Cole is good for my ego!

"So do you babe, so do you. Here's to getting laid tonight!"

Cole does look pretty fucktastic, he is wearing the same outfit as me, you know without the halter part and his shirt is a manly length just brushing the top of his low slung pants. You can clearly see his nipple ring through his shirt as the diamond twinkles with his every move. We don our short leather jackets (the cheap black ones you always wear to a club so that you're not too upset if the coat-check 'loses it'). As we walk (more like we do the New York model strut) to the club, the door-guy looks us up and down, lifts that velvet rope and motions for us to enter the club. Yah, just like that baby. As we pass over the threshold he hands us each a laminated card – it's a membership pass. That means we get in for free for EVAH! Nice, so far so good. We go through, show the cards then check our coats. I bend over to put my card with my other valuables into the secret inner compartment of my boots. The boots are custom made by the same guy who did our clothes and I requested that each boot have secret pockets on the inside at the ankles where I can hide my money, ID, keys and BB. The heels on these boots are 3 inches, but the boots are so well-crafted that they are perfectly comfortable to dance in for hours on end; I've had them for about 7 years now and they are worth every penny of the $500 I paid for them back then.

After I'm all squared away, Cole grabs my hand and we make our entrance into Babylon. It's 11:30p.m. on the dot and we obviously cause quite a stir as people turn to look at us. I say people, but let me correct myself, I really mean MEN! There are only men in this club. Brian Kinney invited us to a gay club. Brian Kinney is a fag! Cole and I look at each other and laugh. We keep discovering that this man and I have more and more in common than meets the eye. We are half way to the bar when we feel the thumpa thumpa of the bass and then hear the opening beat of BodyRockers 'I Like The Way You Move' and we turn to each other and start circling seductively around each other while mouthing the opening words. When the beat changes we lose our shit and really start letting go. We are grinning and jumping around and really moving now because this is one of our favorite songs! We're jumping around to the beat, banging our heads side to side and we are both in the zone. When Cole and I dance it looks like we choreographed it, but it just comes from years of dancing with each other, we know what we each like and we move well together. It's like we're fucking on the dance floor and who wouldn't want that?

I like the way you, put your hands up in the air,  
I like the way you, shake your hair,  
I like the way you, like to touch,  
I like the way you, stare so much,  
but most of all....  
Yeah..  
most of all....

I like the way you move.....  
I like the way you move.....

When the song finishes, we are laughing hysterically and grabbing each other, because we know that if this is any indication of the type of music they play here, we are going to feel right at home! The crowd is huge even this early, so Cole throws me on his back and makes his way over to the bar, both of us bopping our heads and me with one hand wrapped around his neck and chest the other one pumping a fist in the air to the song that's currently playing which is some Techno shit I haven't heard in a few years. I see that the DJ likes to switch things up and keep you on your toes. I turn around to the DJ booth and send the man a thumbs up. I see him tilt his head in acknowledgement back to me. Oh, yeah, this is going to be our spot. As we get closer to the bar, the crowd parts and we see Brian and his friends standing at this bar. I climb off of Cole's back and we dance our way over. Introductions are quickly made while we surreptitiously check each other out. I laugh when I see Emmett checking Cole out. That is going to be interesting.

"What are you guys drinking?" Brian asks.

Without missing a beat or even looking at each other, Cole and I both yell out 'Tequila.' We do our shot and then tongue each other. I'm sorry; did I not mention that Cole and I are shameless exhibitionists who like to shock the masses? Well, yah, we are. We watch everyone's reaction and then we all burst out laughing.

Brian turns to us and says, "I saw you two really got into the music as soon as you walked in, so do you like it so far?"

We agree and then I notice Emmett looking at me, so I turn to him and say "Dude are you staring at my fucking tits?"

He gets all flustered and then turns to Brian for help. Brian, of course knows that I am joking and starts laughing.

"I'm just yanking your chain, Em." I laugh giving him a quick hug.

"Okay, now that that's out of the way," he steps back and inspects me from head to toe and asks, "How the fuck did you get into those pants?"

I throw my head back and laugh. I like his bluntness, I lean in and whisper in his ear, "Cole usually has to help me, but tonight I got them on all by myself and before you ask, no I'm not wearing any underwear."

I lean back and wink at him as we all make our way to the dance floor. As we all dance, I'm checking out the crowd to see if there are any ladies here. Soon, I see this sultry looking Japanese girl at the fringe of the crowd under the DJ booth.

Cole leans in and says, "She's hot, but she looks shy."

I reply, "Well you know those shy chicks always turn out to be tigers in the sack! RARW!!!"

We laugh and I point out a prospect that I see for him. I nod to where we think there's a back room and we make our way over. What? I'm a curious chick and I like to watch guys fuck. Also, sometimes I can find a guy who will finger me so it's a win win situation. We enter the room and head to the back to scope out the action. Whoa, this place is off the chain. We spend a few minutes back there, long enough for Cole to get his dick sucked while I get a little finger action right next to him. While that was going on the two of us are making out like crazy. Cole is an awesome kisser and there is nothing that turns me on more than someone who can kiss. I always tease Cole and tell him that I know he would be good at eating pussy if his tongue skills are any indicator. He always grimaces and pretends to barf and then tells me that if he ever feels the inclination; he'll come to me first. When we both come, we thank our boys and leave the back room.

When we get back on the floor the DJ is playing Full Frontal – You Think You're A Man and all the guys are dancing together. Brian is dancing with the little lovesick Mikey (who I knew as soon as I met him did not like me), I start dancing with Emmett and Cole dances with Ted. As the night wears on and the club gets more and more packed, the body heat gets turned up and I notice that most of the guys have taken their shirts off so I join the party. I whip my shirt off and tie it around my waist leaving me in just my leather halter. We're all into the music and we pass the hours away switching partners until Cole and I are back together. He pulls a vial out of his pocket and puts a tablet on his tongue and then leans in and kisses me. I suck the pill off his tongue and play with it until it dissolves and I swallow it down. He hands me the vial and I take a pill and put it on my tongue and lean into him. He sucks the pill off my tongue and swallows the pill down once it dissolves. We continue to kiss and as I turn my head I see Brian looking at me over Cole's shoulder, I pass him the vial and watch as he takes a pill of himself and then passes the vial to his friends. I lose track of them as Cole picks me up and we make our way to the back room once again. We find a new guy and this time I watch as my best friend gets fucked by this really hot guy. Coles is jerking his cock as the guy starts to fuck him. As he is pounding into Cole, the guy leans over to where I am, still kissing Cole and reaches to open my pants and then slips a finger inside me. I moan into Cole's mouth, which causes Cole to clench his ass cheeks on the guy who's fucking him which prompts the guy to add two more fingers and really start finger-fucking me. Soon, the cycle is too much; my increased moaning into Cole's mouth, causes him to be even more turned on which causes him to clench his ass tighter on the guy's cock. The guy cums, I cum and then Cole cums. We are all breathing heavy, completely sated and as we tidy up the guy brings his fingers to his mouth and licks my pussy juices off of them one by one. It is the most erotic thing I have ever seen and then he leans in and whispers in my ear so that Cole can hear.

"You taste fuck good."

He then turns and makes his way out of the back room and I have another orgasm and have to lean on Cole for a minute. He chuckles at me; we kiss and then make our way back onto the floor. The DJ starts playing P!nk's U+UR hand (more like the hand of the guy who just fingered my pussy) and I am losing my shit, this song is like one of my favorite club anthems. I always dance to this song by myself so that I can really let go, jumping up and down and thrashing and banging my head, so Cole steps away to leave me to myself.

Check it out  
Going out  
On the late night  
Looking tight  
Feeling nice  
It's a cockfight  
I can tell  
I just know  
That it's going down  
Tonight  
At the door we don't wait cause we know them  
At the bar six shots just beginning  
That's when dick head put his hands on me  
But you see

I'm not here for your entertainment  
You don't really want to mess with me tonight  
Just stop and take a second  
I was fine before you walked into my life  
Cause you know it's over  
Before it began  
Keep your drink just give me the money  
It's just u and ur hand tonight

Midnight  
I'm drunk  
I don't give a fuck  
Wanna dance  
By myself  
Guess you're outta luck  
Don't touch  
Back up  
I'm not the one  
Buh bye  
Listen up it's just not happening  
You can say what you want to your boyfriends  
Just let me have my fun tonight  
Aiight

When the song is finished I see that Brian is alone so we start dancing together. He is smiling as he leans in to me and says in my ear, "I see you're getting acquainted with the many offerings of our fine establishment, are you enjoying yourself?"

I smile and reply, "Definitely."

I know that I am wearing a big-assed Cheshire Cat grin, but I can't help it, I've come three times for the night already. Fuck, that last guy had really long, thick, skilled fingers. My pussy shudders in recollection. We dance a few songs while I surreptitiously watch the Japanese girl over Brian's shoulder. The closer she gets the more I can see that she is absolutely stunning. The DJ must be watching this little game she and I are playing as we each dance with separate partners because I hear the beginning beat of Martin Solveig's Boys & Girls and I laugh in my head. I see that Brian knows the words and we are signing the song to each other as we dance with each other.

I could be your boy and you could be my girl  
(I could be your boy)  
Come on, rock my world

I can't be your girl  
tu me fatigue  
Oh oh oh oh oh  
This is not your world  
boy your out of your league  
Oh oh oh oh oh

Popsicle French boy, sure of yourself  
I could get to know you but I just want to dance  
I'm gonna make it clear  
Parler vous français  
Ce n'est pas possible  
Now, get out of my way

At this point, I lean into Brian, lick his ear and whisper "Gotta go."

I quickly let my glance roam looking for Cole and when I spot him I give our code to let him know that I'm making my move and that I will be leaving for the night when (there's no question of if) I'm successful. I then step behind Brian and the Japanese girl and I start circling each other. Any doubts that the DJ's music tonight was just coincidence are quickly erased when there is a pause and then the beginning beat of P!nk's 'Oh My God' starts playing. You have to understand that this is one of the sexiest songs EVAH and I always feel fuck sexy when I am dancing to it. Tonight is no exception, as the girl and I circle each other, I feel like a powerful tigress stalking my prey. Jesus H. Christ this girl is fuck hot and now we are mere inches apart. She is smaller than me and a few inches shorter, but her body is tight and she is beautiful.

I lick my lips in anticipation of how her pussy would taste. She must be thinking the same thing because the pink tip of her tongue pokes out to moisten her bottom lip. I feel my pussy start to drip. I have to have this woman tonight. I am going in for the kill. The song starts and the dance of seduction truly begins. I stand still and the girl circles my body touching me with her hands and giving me tiny licks all over my body – my neck, my cleavage, my back on my tattoo, in my belly button; she is licking the sweat off my body and showing me what she will do to me later.

I happen to glance over her shoulder and see that Brian is now tonguing the guy that he is dancing with all the while looking me dead in the eye. For some reason that turns me on. Did I mention the part about me being a shameless exhibitionist? Yeah, cuz damn I'm also a voyeur, cause seeing Brian's hands on that guy's ass and him ramming his tongue down the guy's throat makes me even hotter and I lick my lips while staring at him. Even from 10 feet away I can see his eyes darken with passion; I am not the only one turned on by this silent display. Fleetingly, I think to myself that I would love to be a fly on the wall to watch Brian Kinney fucking. I smirk at him and close my eyes as the girl reaches up and licks behind my ear.

Put me on the table  
Make me say your name  
If I can't remember  
Then give me all your pain  
I can sit and listen  
Or I can make you scream  
Kiss it and make it better (she leans in and kisses the base of my neck; I moan and throw my head back)  
Just put your trust in me

She continues circling my body and by the time she reaches my belly button, she is looking up at me and there is no mistaking what we are going to be doing later. I drag her up my body by her hair and ease my thigh in between her legs, I can practically feel her pussy throbbing and she is breathing hard now against my neck.

_[Chorus]_  
Oh my God, go a little slower (I lick the shell of her ear)  
Oh my God, what was that again  
La da da, let me feel you baby  
Let me in, 'cause I understand  
Let me feel you baby (I feel her pussy throbbing against my leg and she is moaning against my neck.)  
'Cause I understand

This can be really easy  
It doesn't have to be hard  
Here baby let me show you  
I'll have ya, climbing up the walls

At this point, I put my hands on her ass and lean in and ask her, "Do you want to get out of here?" I ask her in English and she nods against my neck. I repeat the question in Japanese and she moans against my neck. When she pulls back to look me in the eye, we smile at each other and lean in and kiss. God she has a quick, dainty little tongue. We break apart and turn simultaneously for the exit. We get our coats and exit the club. She is staying at a hotel downtown; she's in town from Tokyo for a conference and she leaves tomorrow afternoon. Perfect, no strings exactly how I like it.

We get back to her room and we spend the next few hours making love. It's slow, soft and sensual, she is all soft touches and dainty licks and it is heaven. I hear my alarm going off at 1a.m. and I take a quick break to text Cole to let him know that I am safe and well I give him her name and the name and room number of the hotel. I wait for his reply of the same. He gives me the guy's name and the address where he is. We've been doing this check-in process for years just so that we know that when we separate after we've picked up that night's entertainment that we're each okay. The next check-in is at 6a.m. That one also serves as a wake-up call for you to get out of the trick's place or get him/her the fuck out of yours. The Japanese girl (Ayako is her name) and I resume our activities before falling asleep just before 5a.m. When the alarm goes off, I text Cole and let him know that I'm still here and since Ayako just woke up and is currently, licking her way up my leg, it looks like I'm going to be here for a while. He texts back and says that we're meeting Brian and his friends for brunch at 11:00a.m. and he gives me directions to the diner. I agree and let Ayako resume 'waking me up'. She has to check out by 11:30a.m. so it works out perfectly for the both of us.

I wake to the ringing of my phone, picking it up from my boot; I see that it's Cole.

"What?" I answer, huskily. Ayako is awake now and nibbling on my neck.

"You're on Speakerphone and where are you?" he asks and I can tell he's smiling.

"In bed." I answer, succinctly.

He laughs and says, "By the way, we're all wondering when you're going to get here."

I paused, confused and a little distracted. I moan and ask "Uhh…where is there and who is we?"

"Daniella…we talked about this earlier, I told you we were meeting Brian and his friends for brunch at the diner and I sent you the directions."

Shit! I vaguely remember this conversation. I reluctantly push Ayako away and whisper to her in Japanese that I need to be going and she needs to check out. She pouts at me; an honest to goodness pout and we both start giggling. I hear laughter on the other end of my phone and I realize that even though no-one at the table understands what I said, I guess everybody pretty much understands what's happening. I laugh out loud. Like I said, I have no shame.

"I'll be there in 30." I say.

"Take your time, you'll need it to get those pants back on. By the way this place has great coffee. Hurry, up, love."

I laugh out loud again along with everybody else as I know that he's right. These pants are gonna be a bitch to get back on.

"See you in a bit, love." I reply and then hang up. Ayako and I manage to get one in for the road (yes, '69 was a very good year wink, wink!) and then I take a cab back to my place. I quickly shower and then throw on my black low-rise skinny fit DKNY bum around on the weekend jeans and a pink mohair sweater that hangs off one shoulder, with my black Prada ankle boots and my black Hugo Boss Pea Coat. I add a herringbone newsboy cap and my black Gucci shades. I take a cab to the diner and when I step in I see Cole and the gang sitting in the far corner. I make my way over and slide into the booth next to Cole and opposite Brian.

Brian looks at me at smirks, "Well almost good afternoon to you."

I opened my mouth to answer him but what comes out is the biggest yawn EVAH! I quickly try to cover my mouth and stifle it, but am unsuccessful. The table erupts in laughter and even I have to laugh at myself. I put my head on Cole's shoulder briefly and he kisses my head.

"My, my, someone's really tired." He says, smirking at me and kissing me on the forehead.

"Yup." I say, popping the P like a teenager. "So, what's good here, what are we eating?" I say, trying to deflect the attention off of me.

I shrug out of my jacket and Emmett looks over at me and says "Oh, no honey, you got to spill. You can't put on a show like the one you did last night and come in here talking about pancakes."

I can see he is about to 'queen out' on me, so I decide to go for a compromise.

"Okay, how about this, we order and while the food comes, I can have my coffee so I can be fully awake to honestly and fully answer your questions?"

He agrees to this and the waitress comes over and takes our order. I order a short-stack with strawberries and bananas on the side and their biggest mug of coffee. When she brings me the coffee I jump on that shit and moan loudly at the first swallow; that's some good fucking coffee!. I take my shades and hat off and put them behind me on my coat. Cole leans over and we kiss good morning. He is grinning like a Cheshire Cat and I know that I am too.

"So…" he says expectantly and as I look around the table, I see that everyone is looking at me with the same expression. I take a deep breath and give them the Cliff's Notes version.

"Her name is Ayako, she's 34, she's an investment banker, she invited me to a club the next time I'm in Tokyo, she has a very talented tongue and she is insatiable." As I finish my speech Mikey is choking on his coffee and I look up at him curiously.

"What?" I look sideways at Cole to see what the problem is.

"I think he's shocked at how blatant you are." I notice that he has subtly emphasized the word blatant. Okay. If only Mikey knew how _blatant_ I could really get. Yeah, I can already see that of Brian's friends he is going to be the biggest pain in my ass.

Emmett, meanwhile is my kinda guys and he asks "How talented, on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the best you've ever had?"

I think about that one and then say "She's a solid 8."

Cole's head whips around as I knew it would.

"What, you mean she's better than…who did the thing with the thing…?"

I nod; he stares at me open-mouthed while everyone else stares at me curiously.

Emmett meanwhile is leaning across the table and asks "Who's who that did the thing with what thing?"

I turn to Emmett, wink and say "Em, I'm sorry but that conversation would definitely be too _blatant_ (and here I do a big emphasis while looking straight at little Mikey) for this table."

Everyone laughs at this except Mikey who returns to sullenly drinking his coffee. The food arrives and I keep the focus on Emmett who I now know is my favorite of Brian's friends.

"So, what about you, Em. I saw that Power Top in the purple shirt checking you out before I left and we saw him earlier and he was hung." Cole nods in agreement.

Emmet gets this faraway look in his eyes and said "Oh my God, his name is Christophe, he's French, an artist, 8 and a half, cut and talk about insatiable, he was like the Energizer bunny, or more like the Energizer jackhammer."

He rolls his eyes and I love him even more and know that he, Cole and I are going to be the best of friends. Ted is the first to laugh at his jackhammer reference and then Emmett, to drive home his point, starts bucking against the table like he's being drilled from behind by a jackhammer. I am giggling like the girl I am and this makes the men who surround me laugh even harder, even Mikey.

I decide to be nice, "What about you Mikey, did you have a good evening too?"

He looks at me and smiles mischievously and says "Obviously not as good as yours, but it was good, thank you."

Oh Fuck being nice! This guy was on my shit-list; fucking asshole!

Emmett reaches across the table with his fork and helps himself to the bananas on my plate.

"Oh, please Mikey, from the way you were hollering and calling on Jesus last night, you had more than just a 'good' time. If I had to judge from over the years I'd have to rate that as one of your top 10."

Oh shit! Oh, no he didn't ! Emmett just called out Mikey! I take Emmett's hand and whisper to him, 'I Love You' and put my hand over my heart. He mimics my gesture and whispers the same back to me.

Ted leans forward and says in a serious voice, "Emmett, now that was just blatant."

This time the one who almost chokes is Brian and the table dissolves in fits of laughter again.

I look at Ted and before I can ask he says "His name was Dillon, he was about 8 inches, uncut, he's a doctor, he was great and he's taking me out to dinner tonight."

I can tell that he's been waiting to get this off his chest since they all sat down to eat.

"Sweet." I say to him smiling.

Suddenly, Emmett looks at Cole and me in this weird way, and then asks us "Wait, a minute, how did you two know that Christophe was hung?" Cole and I looked at each other and then back to Emmett.

"We saw him in the back room earlier in the night."

Mikey, Ted and Emmett are looking at me and Cole like we had two heads. Fuck, what now? I thought we had gotten past all the shit.

"What?" we say in unison.

"You were in the back room?" Guess who's asking me that question in his judgmental whiny asshole voice? Yeah, boys and girls…ding, ding, ding, Asshole Mikey!

"Yes, I was. Why, is it supposed to be off limits to women, cuz I didn't see a sign."

Cole can tell I'm starting to get a little pissed off at this little prick and puts his hand on my thigh under the table. Mikey mumbles something about me being a very liberal woman and I start to see red; I'd have to be a fucking moron not to recognize this as a thinly veiled euphemism for 'slut'.

As I open my mouth to say something, Brian kicks my leg and quickly turns to Mikey and says "Don't mind him, Mikey is just being a judgmental, sexist misogynistic asshole, right Mikey?" I can tell from his tome that Brian is pissed at Mikey.

Mikey takes a breath and says, "I'm sorry, I don't know you and I shouldn't judge you, it's just that I've never heard a woman be so open about what she likes or does sexually and it's startling. I'm sorry that I came across as a judgmental, sexist misogynistic asshole."

"I accept your apology Michael and I have to tell you that if you and I are going to be spending any time together you are going to have to get used to the fact that I'm a woman who speaks my mind. I like what I like and I know what I want. I'm a very sexual person and I don't mind talking about anything sexual. I like to fuck and I'm not ashamed of that and I will never apologize or be made to feel ashamed for that or for who I am or just because I'm a woman and should be conforming to some sort of societal standard. If I am, however, asked a question like I have been today, then I will give an honest answer."

Ted, Emmett and Brian all say, 'hear, hear' and just like that the black cloud lifts off the table.

I smile at Brian in thanks for stepping in to handle the Michael situation (yeah, that fucker will be Michael to me from now on) and then I look at Cole. "So what about you love, how was the blond?" He looks at me and smirks.

"First off you were right and second he was fuck awesome! I didn't leave his place until 8 this morning."

"Sweet." I said and kiss him.

Brian looks up from stealing a piece of banana from my plate, smirks at me and then asks Cole, "What was she right about?" I look down and Cole actually blushes.

We make no move to answer and Ted yells out, "Is it one of those blatant things, cuz if it is I want to hear it now!"

I pretend to be busy eating my strawberries and the last few bites of my stack while trying to studiously ignore the gazes of everyone at the table. I finish eating and then start working on making my coffee disappear.

Finally, I guess the silence is just too much and Michael says "I want to know, even if it's blatant." I look up and Brian catches my eye and he looks like he is about to burst from curiosity.

"Okay, I'll tell you, but first I need you all to promise that you will never ask me to demonstrate it on you." En masse they all promise.

Cole starts to speak "Okay, Dani has a super-power."

Everyone's gaze turns to look at me and since I hate unnecessary attention like this I duck my head. They all wait expectantly as Cole continues, "She can look at a man's crotch and correctly guess the length his penis will be when he's fully erect."

I just drop my head onto the table completely mortified. I have been using this 'super-power' to help Cole and my brothers for years now, so I've been comfortable with them knowing. Admitting this to four relative strangers now is nerve-wracking. The table remains silent and I pick my head up off the table to look at them and their reactions. In what at any other time would have seemed to have been a well-choreographed move, the four of them stand and say in unison,

"Guess me."

I groan out loud and motion for the waitress. When she comes over, I ask for warm apple pie and another cup of coffee. The others ask for the same and did I mention that these 4 idiots are still standing?

"Would you guys sit down and did you not just promise that you would never ask me to demonstrate on you?" They sit, mumbling all the while and then turn to Cole.

"She's right all the time?" Ted asked incredulously.

Cole looks at him and replies, "In the 10 years that we've known each other, she's only been wrong once." They all look to me now.

"Tell them why I was wrong." I say to him.

"The guy was wearing a prosthetic penis over his real junk."

Cole tells the story and they all laugh as he tells them about how and when the 'discovery of the deceit' took place.

"So, have you always listened to her?" Michael asks reverently.

Cole shakes his head and has the good grace to look chagrined "There was this time about 3 years ago, we were in Vegas at Tao nightclub and I saw this man, oh, he was gorgeous. We got to talking and we had so much in common and he was a good conversationalist and everything was going great and when I looked to her for the signal, she shook her head. I thought for sure that he would be packing; I mean the guy had everything else going for him, right. So, I decide to close the deal anyway and we go back to his suite at the Bellagio and things started out great, a lot of sucking, rimming and then he took off his boxer briefs and I was blown away. He was hard and he was about 3 inches. So I decide to take one for the Team, you know. Once I left his suite, I went back to our suite at the Luxor and when I opened the door, Dani had already ordered one of every desert on the room service menu. So, that night we commiserated and I have never not listened to her again. That was also the last night either of us ate flan again, that shit is just nasty." He looks at me and laugh and we kiss.

I turn to Brian, "So last but certainly not least, what about you? How was your night, did you leave with that guy you were kissing when Ayako and I left? How was he?"

He smirked at me and he says, "As a matter of fact, I left with that guy, his name was Cody, and he was very good. He also had a talented tongue."

I held up my hand for him to stop and then closed my eyes trying to remember the guy. "Oh, I remember him, he was a big boy, almost 9 inches, right?"

Everyone looked from me to Brian and then back. "What? What the fuck did I say now?" I'm rolling my eyes, what the fuck? Was I going to have to start unconsciously censoring myself with these people?

Brian answers the question. "They're used to me being the most sexually explicit and unapologetic at the table so this is going to take some getting used to. To answer your question, yes, he was a big boy, but I've seen bigger." The smug look on his face is truly ridiculous.

"I bet you have." I reply tongue in cheek because we both know that we're both talking about him now.

Yeah, I worked my 'super-powers' on Brian Kinney the day I met him and Jesus Fucking Christ, the man has every right to be smug! He has to be at least 9 and a half inches. Egad! Alas! Shaggy says Zoiks!

I refused to look him in the eye and instead I feel his foot kick mine again and I finally giggle. Apparently my giggle must be contagious, because it sets the guys off again.

By now, it's like 3 in the afternoon, we've finished our dessert and we're wondering what everybody's doing for the rest of the day. Emmett, Cole and I are all talking and exchanging contact information and he is telling us that he would party with us any time, that we are his kinda people. I knew that Emmett was cool people. When we exit the diner, I groan at how full I am and Cole stoops so that I could hop on his back and get a piggy back ride to his car across the lot. We laugh out loud at that, we could be such kids sometimes. He unlocks and opens the passenger door, puts me down and kisses me before I haul myself in. We wave at Brian as we leave the lot and then chat about how our nights went and how we really like Emmett and how much of an uptight prick that Michael is and cackle about how in love he is with Brian.


	6. The Evolution Of Brian Kinney

The Tale Of The Unapologetic & The Blatant

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Summary: Brian Kinney has it all; he's young, beautiful, talented and successful. He's a Senior Partner at Vangard Advertising, the top advertising agency in Pittsburgh and the heir apparent to the Managing Partner. Will the mysterious new arrivals change everything he thought he knew? Story contains OFC and OMC.

BPOV

After I left the diner following brunch with Dani and the boys, I headed to the loft to just enjoy some down time. I toed off my shoes and socks, stripped till I was clad in just my jeans and got settled on the sofa. I turned the tv on and started channel surfing; Jesus Christ, 400 channels and I still can't find anything decent to watch on a Saturday afternoon! I finally settled on an episode of Cold Case on TNT. This episode was about a young boy who had disappeared from his home and the investigation lead the detectives to the theory that the boy had left home to escape the abuse of his father. Whoa…_'click'_ I turned that shit off with the quickness; that storyline just hit too close to home for me. I surfed before landing on Comedy Central and one of my favorite comedians, Pittsburgh's own Anthony Jeselnik. As funny as he was though, even he couldn't stop my mind from wandering back to the storyline of the Cold Case episode. It made me think back to my own childhood, something I definitely didn't do too often.

I remembered back to when Jack and Joan Kinney seemed like the perfect parents. I remember being around five or six and my father playing 'horsey' with me in the living room of our house; him down on all fours whinnying and neighing while I straddled his back yelling 'Giddy-yap, horsey' and 'yay, Daddy'!' and laughed the pure laughter that only innocence allows. I smile as I remember that scene as vividly as if it were playing out right now before me in my own living room. I could see my mother perched on one of the arms of my dad's recliner (his Man Chair as he called it) laughing at our antics while yelling at us to 'mind the coffee table' and 'hold on tight, Bri'. My sister Claire is on the floor in the corner doing her homework. The time skips forward to me at a little older eight or nine perhaps, playing catch in the yard with my dad and him giving me pointers on how to improve my pitch. I could see my teenaged sister on the sofa reading one of her trashy novels – God what were those called again? Ah, the Sweet Dreams novel series. I knew that neither of my parents had any clue what those books were about otherwise they would have forbid Claire from reading them. It's amazing what details the mind holds onto after so many years have passed, I chuckle as I can even remember the titles of some of those cheesy romances that she and her girlfriends would read voraciously and would litter the floor of her room– P.S. I Love You, Promise Me Love, The Perfect Boy, Lifeguard Summer, Crazy For You…god, I think I'm about to hurl at how cheesy even the titles were and the plots, ugh, 'Dear Diary, today I met the perfect boy; he's a lifeguard at the pool I go to, he's so dreamy and perfect and Diary, guess what? I love Him! Swoon' (more like vomit I think to myself).

Like the saying goes, nothing lasts forever. That seemingly idyllic existence of the Kinney household disappeared a few years later after Jack (I just realized that I haven't referred to Jack as anything other than that for as long as I can remember. Not Dad, Daddy, Father, nothing; always Jack) was laid off from his job. He became a bitter man after that and that bitterness resonated throughout the Kinney Household. By that time, Claire was out of the house hanging at her girlfriends' houses or going on dates with boys. Jack spent most of his time slouched in that recliner with its cracked leather and the stuffing sticking out in places, drinking beer, reading the sports section of the paper and watching sports on tv. But mostly what he was doing while in that chair was developing quite the nasty temper. We knew that he was no longer the 'daddy' that Claire and I knew and loved. This became readily apparent one night, when after my mother had 'taken her sweet goddamn time' bringing him a beer, he had back-handed her across the face resulting in her being knocked across the room; luckily the sofa broke her fall. I remember the first thing she did when she rose unsteadily to her feet was to reach for me and Claire and shepherd us upstairs to our rooms. She told us to stay and she left the room. When she came back, she was dressed and carrying a suitcase, and began to throw some of my sister's clothes into it. She told Claire to gather a few personal belongings and her things for school. Claire was so stunned that for once she didn't talk back and silently did as my mother commanded. We followed my mother next door to my room where she packed some of my things in the suitcase and told Claire to help me pack my school things in my backpack. She went into the bathroom and got our toothbrushes and wrapped them in toilet paper and threw them in one of the pockets of the suitcase. When she was done, she kneeled before me and Claire and said that she loved us very much and that what we had seen Daddy do to her was very wrong; you should never hit someone you loved EVER and so we had to leave so that he couldn't do it again. I was scared that dad had hit my mom, but I also knew that the man downstairs wasn't my 'dad' anymore. We nodded mutely to let her know that we understood and then followed her down the stairs; Claire and I holding tightly to one another's hand. As we moved en masse to the front door, Jack's voice came from the living room.

"Where the fuck do you think you're going?" his voice held surprise and anger, but mostly surprise.

"We are leaving you Jack. I'm taking the children and we are going to my mother's."

I remember looking at Jack from behind my mother where she had pushed me and my sister when Jack had started approaching her, and I saw an emotion cross his face quickly before he could hide it; it was rage. Then the acting began. Jack appeared to fold in on himself and hang his head. He sighed deeply and then looked up at my mother with a defeated look on his face and said,

"Joanie, I'm so sorry. I'm just so stressed from not being able to find a job and I took it on you and I shouldn't have."

From my position behind her, I could see the tension in her shoulders dissipating. He came closer to her and continued the performance.

"Joanie, you know I love you and the kids, but it's just been so hard for me since those bastards at the plant let me go for no reason. I know that things haven't been so great these past few months, but they'll get better. I promise."

I promise. With those two fucking words, life at Casa de Kinney changed for the worse. At this point, he was standing right in front of her and then he leaned in to whisper in her ear,

"I promise, Joanie, please don't leave."

This was the beginning of the end for all of us. My mother sighed in surrender and when my father realized that he had persuaded her to stay, a look of unadulterated triumph crossed his face for a few fleeting seconds. Tonight I was seeing the real side of Jack Kinney, the actor who could manipulate my mother to do anything he wanted her to do. He leaned in and brushed his lips across hers and when they kissed and I heard my mother moan softly, my eleven year old self knew that she wasn't going to take us anywhere from this situation, EVER. She was never going to leave Jack. She sent me and Claire back to our rooms and told us to unpack out things and that she would call us when supper was ready. That night at the table Jack was so attentive, so nice, so much like the 'dad' we knew and loved, but I knew better. He could not fool me. Not anymore. I had seen the rage and the triumph and I knew that this was not going to end well. That night was the first night I have ever heard my parents having sex, Jack was loud and forceful and dominant; wanting my mother to understand whose house this was and that she and the kids belonged here with him no matter what. He said all of this as he pounded into my mother. I remember being so disturbed by what was happening that I was under the covers whimpering and cowering in fear until Claire came quietly into my room and got under the covers with me. She and I cowered there together, holding each other unsure of what Jack would do now. We didn't sleep that night and from the sounds of it neither did my parents. We could hear the sounds of flesh slapping against flesh, moans, guttural animalistic noises and then my mother screaming my father's name in ecstasy. No, I knew she would never leave him.

The next morning at breakfast, they were like two teenagers in love, giggling, kissing, touching one another while she sat on his lap. I was disgusted. How long would this new idyll last, I wondered? That question got answered a few weeks later when I came home from school to find my mother in the kitchen preparing dinner with her left eye black and blue and swollen almost shut. When I asked her what happened to her, she said that she had been looking for something in her closet and she had been hit in the eye by a hanger. WTF? A fist-sized hanger? She was covering for Jack. That night, dinner was very subdued. Claire and I kept our heads down and ate quickly and quietly not wanting to draw Jack's ire. At the end of the meal, Jack told us that he would be starting a new job the next day and inside, I sighed; maybe this would make a difference? Don't fault me for my naiveté; I was only eleven at the time. He started the job and things got worse immediately. He complained about how nobody liked him, that the job that he was doing was beneath him, that the boss' son was his supervisor and was only 20 years old. Dinner became a time for him to spew a diatribe about his workplace, colleagues, management; everything.

The bitterness had not left Jack Kinney. He started drinking more. The more he drank, the more bitter he became, the more bitter he became the more he found to nitpick at my mother and then at us kids. One night, Claire and I were doing our homework on the coffee table in the living room when she walked over to him and perched on the arm of his chair like each of us had done hundreds of times before and asked him if she could go to a party at her best friend Brenda's house that coming Saturday. Jack turned to her and said,

"So you could have some College boy feel you up in their basement? You're turning into a whore just like your mother."

We all gasped at what he had said and then he shoved her off the chair arm and onto the floor. She had not been expecting that and she had not steeled herself for a landing and she hit her head on the carpeted floor. She scrambled up in surprise and looked to our mom for help, for some sort of guidance as to what to do, how to react to what had just occurred. This is what our mother said,

"You two go up and finish your homework in your rooms and then get ready for bed."

I went over and helped my sister up and we gathered our things, mumbled our 'goodnights' and went upstairs to our rooms. My sister closed her door and I could hear her crying before I even made it next door to my own room. After a few minutes, I left my room and went to hers. She was sitting on the edge of the bed with her head resting on her drawn up knees, crying. I felt her head to make sure there was no bump, I remembered seeing in some PSA that you should check for swelling or bleeding or a bump that could signify that there was a brain injury. She put her arms around me then and we just sat there holding one another wondering what was going to come next. What came next was that I brought home a permission slip for a field trip to a new science exhibition at the museum that our class was going on the following week. I remember being so excited about it, it was about how many man-made things like plastic and foil were manufactured from minerals that came from the earth. When I gave him the permission slip and explained what it was for, Jack said that science was for pansies and asked why I hadn't gone out for any sports at school. He told me that he didn't want some 'fucking pansy for a son'. I had been standing at the top of the stairs and he told me that I needed to toughen up so that I could grow into a real man, and then he pushed me down the stairs. When I woke up I was in the back of our car with my head in my mother's lap and my feet in Claire's, my head hurt and my arm was throbbing. I looked down and judging from the angle it was pointed at I knew it was broken.

When we arrived at the hospital, Jack stayed in the car, while Claire and my mother accompanied me into the waiting room. That night, I listened to the first of many stories my mother would concoct over the years to explain away the injuries that Claire and I would sustain from Jack. That night it was a tale of how I was running from my sister, tripped and fell down a flight of stairs. I didn't even flinch at this lie. Neither did Claire. This was the night, I begun to hate Jack Kinney and this was also the night, I begun losing all respect for my mother. They examined me and ran tests to make sure that there were no other injuries and put my arm in a cast. Over the next few days, Claire and I kept our heads down and did our best to keep out of Jack's way. Over the next year or so, I lost count of how many more stories were needed to account for the bruises that my mother, sister and I sported. I had bruised ribs, black eyes, palm shaped bruises on my arms. The Kinney household was a nightmare, but a nightmare that I could not escape. When Claire was a senior in high school, she found a way to escape it; she got pregnant. She later told me that she used a pin to poke holes in all of her boyfriend's condoms to deliberately get pregnant. It worked and it is a secret that I have kept for her to this very day. Since the guy was a junior in college, his father and my father made him 'do the right thing', and so Claire Kinney walked down the aisle 4 months pregnant and giddily happy. Everyone thought that getting married and having a baby were the reasons for her happiness, but my mother and I knew the _real_ reasons.

With Claire out of the house, Jack came after me with renewed gusto. I joined all sorts of after-school activities, Junior Achievement, Woodworking and the Debate Club. Just to appease Jack, I even took up a sport – long distance running. The irony of this does not escape me now. I excelled at that, now I was a bona fide athlete, just what every father wants for his son. I had ulterior motives of course, all of these things kept me out of the house; they also looked good on your transcript and therefore your college applications. With Junior Achievement, I learned the inner workings of a business first hand, with the Debate club, I learned to hone my analytical, presentation and persuasion skills and woodworking and track gave me outlets, they were ways of keeping my mind calm and focused and disciplined. I wanted to go to college. I wasn't' going to work in a plant in Pittsburgh like my father complaining about how much I hate my life and my job. No, I was getting out of this place, out of this town and most importantly out of Casa de Fucking Kinney. So I studied, I kept my grades perfect, I did all extra credit assignments. I was a kiss ass to my teachers. When we had to go on field trips or out of town to debate other teams, I used my charm and my newly discovered persuasion skills to have my teachers sign the forms for me so that I could go or I forged Jack's signature. Yes, I would do anything to get the fuck out. I understand why Claire had done what she did, that was the only option she thought she had so she took it.

Now that I wasn't at home enough for my father to beat on me, his new thing was to ask me if I 'was doing any of the girls, yet?' This was step 2 in the 'ensure my son ain't no pansy' Jack Kinney manifesto. Step 1 was to make sure that I was athletic and since I was winning awards with my distance running and he even came to meets (not to support me, but to brag to the other parents and to take credit for my talent) there was no denying that his son was a jock. Christ, I even had a fucking Letterman's jacket! Now, he thought that I was at that age where I should be messing around with girls; 'sowing my wild oats' as he put it. He gave me a bunch of Playboy magazines, a box of condoms and a pamphlet from Planned Parenthood along with a dire warning to 'always wear a rubber, never stick your Johnson in a girl without one no matter how pretty she is or how much she tells you that she loves you'. He told me to make sure that I was the one to always put the condom on to ensure that she didn't damage it with her nails or something and get herself knocked up. Yeah, classy fella that Jack Kinney. I started messing around with a few of the neighborhood girls, just enough that they would talk. Just some frenching and fingering that was it. I was so traumatized by what Claire had done and the warnings from my father that there was no way I was 'sticking my Johnson in a girl'. I laugh. I mean, let's be really honest here. Fear of getting a girl pregnant was not the only reason I wasn't fucking the ladies, I just wasn't interested in fucking…_the ladies_. Not at all. I mean, when I was kissing Lisa Brady and fingering her on my bed after school I was really thinking about kissing her brother Lance. When I was wacking off to the Playboy magazines my father had given me, it was the thought of Lance's hands stroking my cock that made me cum. I had to keep those thoughts and desires under wraps though, because if Jack ever suspected he would try to kill me, there was no doubt in my mind. So I would bring 'my girlfriend' Lisa home a few evenings a week 'to study in my room'. Jack would wink lecherously at me behind her and my mother's backs to let me know that he knew exactly what I would be 'studying'! Lisa wanted to go further, but I told her that I respected her too much to fuck her, so we kissed, I fingered her and she rubbed my cock through my jeans. The first time she gave me a hand-job, I came quicker and harder than I had ever cum with myself. It had been great and I didn't even have to think about anything, I just gave in to the feeling and just let myself go. Hmmm, maybe having this chick around wasn't such a bad thing after all.

When I was fifteen, I started hanging out with this kid at school, Michael Novotny. He seemed nice enough, he was hyper and he talked really fast when he was excited about something. The one 'something' that he was _always _excited about more than anything, was captain Astro. Yeah, the super hero. He spent all of his allowance buying every Captain Astro comic ever printed and I have to admit he got me hooked on them. We started hanging out together behind the woodwork shed, smoking and eating these lemon bars he always brought to school every day. Those lemon bars were like fucking heaven. They were soft and freshly baked and so light and fluffy that they would practically melt in your mouth. I told him that he was lucky to have a mom who baked them for him to bring to school every day. He told me that his Mom didn't bake them, but that she worked as a waitress at a diner and she always gave him two freshly baked ones to take to school every morning. When he told her that he had made a friend, she had starting giving him four lemon bars every day. I remember being surprised and pleased at the same time. This woman didn't even know me and yet she included me because her son saw me as a friend. After school he would go to the diner where she worked and sit in an open booth and do his homework till her shift ended. The first time he took me to the diner and introduced me to his mother, I didn't know whether to laugh or run screaming down the street. Then she looked at me, stopped smacking her gum and said, 'so you're my son's asshole friend who loves him some fucking lemon bars, huh?' I laughed. She was hysterical. She had a mouth like a truck driver and knew everyone who came into the diner. She would bring me and Mikey a plate of fries as we sat at that table doing homework. She told me she had known my Mom; that they had gone to the same high school together. Then she left the table muttering 'I can't believe she married that asshole Jack Kinney.' I knew I should have been offended, but I wasn't. Mikey invited me over to his house at least 2 evenings a week and his mom (she told me to call her Debbie) would make either Lasagna or Spaghetti with these giant, weirdly shaped, mutant looking meatballs. Mike's father was a Veteran; he had died in combat, so there was no man in the house. I got the impression that suited Debbie just fine. The first time I invited Mikey to my house for dinner, Jack's face lit up when he saw him. I guess Mikey's presence confirmed to him that his son was normal; I had a girlfriend, I was a jock and I had a best friend who I did guy things with. My Mom was happy to hear that he was Debbie Grassi's kid; she remembered her from high school. Mikey and I would do our homework on the dining room table while my mother fussed over us making sure we were not hungry or thirsty. My father would take the two of us to the bowling alley with him when he had bowling night with his drinking buddies. Mikey and I were both fair bowlers, but he was the better of the two of us. Some nights, Jack would be so drunk, that he would let me drive us back home, dropping Mikey off at his house on the way.

By this time, I was sixteen and knew that I liked men. There was no doubt about it. No matter how much Lisa said she loved me or how hard she tried, I would not, no _could not _fuck her. One day Mikey and I were upstairs in his room looking at the new Captain Astro comic when he started going through an old suitcase of magazines that he had found under the bed. What he discovered was a treasure trove of porn, and not just any old porn… gay porn! Jackpot! We started looking through them and that was when I first saw another man's dick and knew for sure that I liked it. I had an instant boner and looking over at Mikey; I could see that he was similarly affected. Next thing you knew we each had our junk out and stroking it while looking at the magazine and each other's cocks. Suddenly we heard his mother stomping up the stairs coming to get us for dinner. We hastily stuffed our junks back in our pants before she opened the door, but the looks on our faces, plus the fact that we were surrounded by a shitload of porn pretty much told her what we had been doing. She looked from Mikey to me and back, took a deep breath, admonished us to 'put the porn back when we were done with it, always wear a rubber when we fucked and to come downstairs and eat some fucking lasagna', before leaving the room and stomping back down the stairs. Mikey and I looked at each other and I knew that his look of horror and humiliation was mirrored on my face. Then we both burst out laughing and we didn't stop laughing for another ten minutes. As we were leaving the room to 'go eat some fucking lasagna' I turned to him and say 'your mother is so fucking cool'. He replied 'Yeah, I know."

With everything that had been going on in my life, there had been a lull with Jack Kinney using his wife and son as punching bags, I guess the fact that I was bringing friends home meant that he had to maintain some sort of normalcy; I mean, how would it look if my girlfriend came over and saw my mother with a black eye? Or, how could I run track if I was injured and how could he brag to his bowling buddies about his jock son if the son was so badly beaten he couldn't run and could potentially lose his jock status? So, he made sure that there were 'little' things, bruised ribs, an open-handed slap, a twisted arm. Debbie saw my arm one day as I was sprawled out on her sofa watching tv with Mikey and she just leaned over and kissed my head and stroked my face when she left the room to get us some lemon bars she always kept in the house just for us. With Debbie it was always those small gestures that meant the most to me. They meant that she knew what was going on and knew that I was handling it the best that I could. She was letting me know that I had a place here with her and Mikey anytime; in fact their house became a home to me. When I was leaving that night she kissed me on the cheek and told me to take care of myself. I know what she meant; she meant keep your head down, stay out of that house as much as you can because the day will soon be here when you will be able to leave for good.

Maybe Jack had good intentions now that he had a charade to keep up, but the demon alcohol didn't get the memo about what was or wasn't part of the charade. It was our senior year a few weeks away from graduation and Mikey and I came home early from school, it was Shepherd's Pie night at my house and Mikey loved my Mom's shepherd's pie as much as I loved his Mom's lasagna so we were eager to get to my house and devour that shit. When we walked into the house, I saw my Mom, on the floor of the foyer with my father straddling her stomach punching her in the face. I saw red and jumped on his back and pulled him off my mother, while Mikey helped her to her feet and got her into the living room. Everything that had been festering in me against Jack Kinney erupted out of me at that moment and I lost it. I started kicking and punching him, trying to give him a taste of the medicine that he had been dosing out to my Mom, my sister and me over the years. I heard my mother screaming and looked up to see her standing in the doorway crying, as she was being supported by Mikey who was also crying.

"Bri, stop, stop before you kill him! Don't kill him, he's all I have in this world!"

That is what stopped me. What does she mean that he's all she has? She has us, me and Claire! It was then, looking at my mother that I truly saw her for what she was for the first time. She stayed with this man, even though he beat the shit of her so bad she couldn't leave the house for weeks. Even though he threw her down the stairs and caused her to miscarry just before Claire left. Even though he beat the shit out of her kids. She stayed with him. I knew right there and then, that if he had told her to, she would have left us for him; she was never going to leave him. Now, everything was becoming clear to me; I was beginning to understand. That first time when she had packed the suitcase, she knew she wasn't going anywhere; she was just trying to show him that she _could _leave him if she really wanted to. She was trying to play on the fact that she could threaten him with leaving and that he would back down, but she was the one who got played that night. Jack Kinney, the master manipulator. I looked down at him, sniveling and cowering at my feet and I looked at her staring at me begging me with her eyes to listen to her and I knew that I had to get out of this place.

By this time, Mikey had called his mother at the diner and she and a few of her friends had pulled up in front of the house. When she walked in she took charge and started barking orders like a drill sergeant.

"Brian, tell these guys where your room is and let's get all your shit packed, you're coming home with me."

She went into the living room and stood before Joan and I watched for a short time as the two women had some sort of silent, eye to eye, woman to woman conversation. I left them to it and went upstairs to move my things out. I took only what I needed. It took us about two hours to get my things out of that house and into Debbie's friend's pick-up truck. I came back into the house and went into the living room; my father was now ensconced in his chair, with my mother holding a bag of frozen peas to the side of his head. How fucked up was this picture? He beat the shit out of her, both her eyes are swollen shut, her lips are swollen and _she_ is soothing _him_. She walked me to the door and as we stood there, she looked at me and her face softened and she looked like the mom I used to know and I wondered how it had come to this. She reached out and she stroked my face and she leaned in and hugged me hard; the kind of hug that she used to give me when I was younger. It was desperate and deep and loving and then she whispered in my ear,

"I thank God that you are getting out of here, please get as far away from here as you can and thank Debbie for me for looking after you when I could not. You study hard and you do the best you can and I know you don't believe me, but I love you and I tried my best Bri, I tried my best."

With that she pushed me out the door into Debbie's waiting arms. I was in a fog for the next few hours, unpacking my stuff into one of Debbie's spare rooms. I was shell-shocked. I felt that whatever had just happened had happened to someone else, not to me. I took a shower and got into this strange bed and just lay there looking up at the strange ceiling. When the door opened and closed, I thought it might have been Mikey, but when I looked up I was surprised to see that it was Debbie. She was carrying a tray of lemon bars and a glass of milk.

"I know that with everything that happened tonight that you didn't get a chance to eat anything."

She sat with me as I ate in silence. Everything seemed to be coming back to me now and it hit me that I was never going back to my parents' house.

"She told me that she was glad that I was getting out of that house, and that I should get as far away as I could. She told me to tell you thank you for looking after me when she couldn't and then she told me that she loved me and that she tried her best."

My voice cracked and I kept repeating 'she tried her best' over and over while sobbing. Debbie held me as I cried, she let me get it out and she stroked my back to help soothe and calm me. After a long while, I looked up and Debbie asked me,

"Do you understand why she told you to stop tonight?"

I nodded. I knew that if I hadn't stopped I would have killed my father. Then what, I would claim self defense and the police would believe me from looking at my mother's face and after seeing the records of our numerous hospital visits and I wouldn't be charged with murder. Then what? I would go on to live my life. Then what? My mother would be alone, utterly alone. The man that she had depended on for everything for the past twenty years would be gone and she would be nothing without him. I had it wrong. I never understood. Jack didn't manipulate my mother and my mother didn't 'play' Jack. This was some sort of co-dependent shit that I would never understand, but neither of them could be without the other. It didn't matter who or what tried to come between them, parents, children, the authorities, they were going to be together. Then something clicked for me. That night that we saw our father hit our mother was not the first time he had hit her. It was the first time that he had done it in front of us so she had made a stand. She never imagined that things would get so bad that he would escalate from hitting her in private to doing it openly in front of us and then to actually beating us. 'I tried my best.' I think of all that she must have withstood initially so that Claire and I wouldn't suffer. How could I hate this woman? I wanted to hate her, but in her own fucked up way she had tried to do the best by us. If she had left, where could she have gone with two kids? Nana was a widow with only social security as an income, she couldn't have supported us. My mom had a high school diploma and no marketable skills what could she have done to support us? Then it hit me looking up at Deb as she stroked my hair. She could have been a waitress she could have done something, anything to get us away from the hell that he put us through. But I had to be fair, not everyone is as strong as Debbie. My mother had left her parents' house and moved right into her husband's as a new bride and quickly became a new mother with Claire's arrival less than a year later. All she had ever known was Jack Kinney. He provided for her and the kids, that was his role. Her role was to take care of the home and the family and that is what she did. She tried her best.

The next day, Debbie traded shifts with one of the other waitresses at the diner so that she could stay home with me. Around 10a.m. her doorbell rang and I was surprised when I heard my mother's voice. When she entered my room, I got angry all over again and then my anger turned to pity; seeing her being beaten last night was one thing but seeing the aftereffects of said beating was frightening, it is something I will never forget. Her face was purple and black and blue and completely swollen. Her eyes were slits; I am surprised that she was able to see enough to walk over to Debbie's. She came into the room and sat next to me on the bed and she talked to me while running her hands through my hair. Really talked to me. She told me why she couldn't leave; why she chose to stay. Why she took the beatings, the ones that I knew about and the ones that I didn't. She confirmed everything that I had deduced for myself last night. I looked at her and I felt so sorry for her. My own mother, how could I not? She looked at me and told me not to feel sorry for her that she chosen her lot in life and she was dealing with it. Then she handed me an envelope, stood, kissed me and walked to the door. Before exiting she turned and said,

"I love you Bri and please know I really did try my best."

I heard the front door close and then I looked in the envelope. There was a bank book for a local bank and the date of the first deposit was a month before I was born. The date of the last deposit was 3 days ago. The name on the account was mine. The balance in the account was just under $9000. There was a letter accompanying the bank documents. It was addressed to me and written in my mother's familiar handwriting.

'_Dear Brian, there is so much that I want to say, but I can't find the words. How do you tell your child that his mother is a coward? How do you tell your child that his mother is weak and spineless? You don't know and I will never tell you, what I did to ensure that you and your sister were relatively safe. It is a moot point now; your sister is safe and now you are safe with the Novotnys. The money in this account is for you, I have been saving it from the time you were born, it was always to help you with school. I am so proud that you got a full academic scholarship to UPitt, I am happy and proud that one of the Kinneys will be a college graduate one day. This may not be much, but I hope that it will help ease your way especially your first year until you get settled. Your father doesn't know this but I had a few part time jobs over the years through the kindness of neighbors and people from church and I saved every penny I ever made for you and your sister to have better lives. School is your way out Brian, don't waste the opportunity, but have fun as well, enjoy yourself. All my love, Your Mother. P.S. I will be checking in with Debbie regularly to hear how you are doing. I am so proud of you._

The next few days, I resumed my routine like nothing had changed with the exception of my address, but deep down I knew that _everything_ had changed. I went to my classes, attended my debate club meetings and I went with Mikey to the diner after school to do our homework. Now, I went home to Debbie's house after school instead of Casa de Kinney.

The one thing that I loved was running track after school. It was a good outlet for me. Ithelped me clear my mind and I liked running until I was really fatigued, because I knew that I would get a good night's rest that night; free from the recurring nightmares of seeing Jack beat my mother. One evening after running track I came back to the locker room to discover that I was all alone. I stripped and hit the showers intent on working out the soreness in my legs. While I was standing under the pulsing spray kneading my thighs and quads I felt a presence next to me and looked over to see Coach Masen stepping under the spray of the shower directly next to me. The first emotion I felt as I glanced at him was lust and my cock reacted immediately; I was now sporting a huge boner. The next emotion I experienced was panic. If he saw that my cock was hard he would know that I was a fag. Could he kick me off the team for this? Could I be expelled? Could they take away my scholarship? What should I do next? The choice was taken away from me when I felt his hand on my cock, conforming to it and stroking it from base to tip. I threw my head and moaned in pleasure. This was so different than what Lisa did. I guess it was because he was a man and knew what he liked so he was doing that to me. I turned my head and what I saw on Mr. Masen's face was the lust that I was feeling. We locked eyes and then he leaned in and kissed me. It was tentative at first; I guess he was gauging my reaction, checking to see if he had been right in his assumptions about me. I did not want hesitance, I leaned into the kiss and kissed him like I did Lisa, using my tongue to part his lips and then to explore his mouth. He moaned and pushed me back until I hit the wall of the shower stall. He broke the kiss and then knelt in front of me and took my cock in his mouth. My head lolled back onto the wall and my knees almost buckled. When I looked down, the sight of Mr. Masen's mouth on my cock made me harder still. He looked up at me and the desire and the lust that I saw in his eyes propelled me over the edge, I put my hand on his head and tried to push him away as I harshly said,

"I'm gonna cum."

But he was relentless, he kept sucking and when I finally exploded in his mouth he swallowed every drop of I gave him. When he was standing before me again, he retrieved our towels from the hooks outside the stalls, handed me mine while he wrapped his around his waist.

"Come with me." he said as I wrapped the towel around my waist and followed him into his office.

He locked the door behind us and then led the way into the small room off his main office where he treated his mildly injured athletes. There was a cot in the corner and he motioned for me to sit.

"Have you ever been with a man before Brian?"

I shook my head, the nerves bursting forth now as I realized how close I was getting to what I had been dreaming of for the last few years. He removed his towel and motioned for me to remove mine and just stood in front of me. He was erect and proud and his cock was beautiful, the cocks that I had been looking at in the porn magazines had nothing on the one pointing proudly at me. It was like my hand had a mind of its own as I reached out and started caressing him, stroking him the way that I liked to be stroked. He moaned and his cock twitched with pleasure. He pushed me back onto the bed and lay next to me. He kissed me and I was thrilled to taste myself on his tongue. We explored each other's mouths, he was gentle yet firm and I liked it. As we kissed he caressed my body, igniting a fire in me that I have never known, but knew immediately that I wanted to be consumed by it. He followed the caresses of his hands with gentle whisper soft kisses all over my chest, taking my nipples into his mouth and lightly biting them. My back arched from the pleasure and my hands curled into his hair holding him closer to me. He kissed down my body, following my happy trail down to my groin. He nuzzled my cock with his nose and softly kissed the tip. He spread my legs and took my balls in his hands, fondling them gently. He used his hands to keep my legs apart and then he leaned in and licked my perenium. I hissed at how good that felt and then without warning, I felt his tongue probing my entrance. My eyes flew open and I couldn't help but moan at how good it felt. I felt him shift on the bed and then I heard the snap of a bottle cap. I looked up to see him coating his fingers with something and then he looked up at me.

"Relax and it will go easier, don't tense up, okay?"

I nodded; I was too far gone for words at this point my mind coping with these new unfamiliar pleasures that were inundating my body. I tried to relax, I tried to slow my breathing, but when I felt his finger probing me, I couldn't help but clench up to prevent entry. He bent over and took my balls into his mouth, applying suction to them. It took my mind off of what he was doing and then suddenly his finger was inside me!

"Uhnnn!" I exhaled harshly and enjoyed the sensation of him filling me. A second finger joined his first and then he was scissoring them, stretching me, filling me, preparing me. I felt myself responding, moving against his fingers desperately needing to feel the friction of him moving inside me, against me. He removed his fingers and reached and grabbed a condom, opened the packet and deftly slid it onto himself. He opened the bottle of lube and coated his sheathed cock. He turned back to me and settled himself between my legs.

"Are you ready Brian?"

"Yes." I moaned.

I felt his cock probe my entrance and then with a firm push, the head was in. If I thought I was being filled by his fingers, this feeling was indescribable.

"Relax." He whispered his voice cracking.

He pushed forward and finally he was buried to the hilt. I hissed at the burning and the discomfort.

"It will get better, just stay still for a bit."

Gradually the pain eased and all I could feel was him in me, filling me. I raised my hips signaling to him to move. He began thrusting and something seemed to burst inside of me; it was the most intense feeling of pleasure I have ever experienced. His movements sped up and now I was thrusting my hips upwards to meet him.

"Oh God, Brian."

He lifted my legs and put them on his shoulders. The new angle made him go deeper inside of me and I screamed in ecstasy as I felt him nudge against a sweet spot inside of me. I never in a million years thought that it could feel this good. He sped up his thrusts; he was going hard and deep and fast. Suddenly I was cumming harder than I have ever cum before. All of the muscles in my body clenched and I felt him freeze, and then he growled and came inside me. Coach Masen collapsed on top of me and our harsh breaths mingled as we rode out the aftershocks of our orgasms. He raised himself up onto his arms and kissed me, softly, reverently caressing my face he whispered,

"Thank you for letting me be your first."

I reached up and kissed him back, hoping that he felt the gratitude I could not articulate for being gentle and controlled and making my first time memorable and wonderful. Soon after we had regained our composure we got up and headed to the showers. As we washed our bodies I kept looking at him; he was hard again and I couldn't take my eyes off of his cock. I fell to my knees and just looked at him for a few minutes before reaching out and stroking his shaft. He leaned against the shower wall his eyes closed and head resting on the wall. I took the tip of his penis into my mouth hesitantly, not sure of what to expect. It was not uncomfortable and soon I had swallowed as much as I was going to.

"Take your time, don't force yourself to take more than you feel is comfortable." Coach Masen advised. "Just use your hands to stroke whatever is not in your mouth, yes, just like that."

He was hissing now as I bobbed my head taking him as far into my mouth as I could and then releasing it almost to the tip. Each time I took him in I was able to take him further into my mouth and soon he hit the back of my throat. I felt my gag reflex kicking in and stopped. I persisted and soon, my mouth engulfed his entire length. I begun to suck and move along his shaft and soon he was writhing, his hands pressing my head further into his groin, his cock relentlessly fucking my mouth. I moved my hand to grasp his balls and soon I felt them twitch and then he was cumming and my mouth was filled to exploding. I tried valiantly to swallow it all, but I couldn't. I pulled my head back and he popped out of my mouth still spurting his cum. I swallowed what I caught in my mouth and looked up at him. To my surprise, he was smiling.

"You did good for your first blow job, Brian, real good." I grinned and he pulled me to my feet and we resumed our shower kissing and touching each other. By the time we were finished he had stroked me to another release and I was exhausted but thoroughly sated and happier than I had ever remember being. That night, as I made my way to Mikey's house I was practically walking on air.

For the next three weeks Coach Masen (or Greg, as he asked me to call him that first night) and I met and made love every single night. Sometimes we talked about my upcoming start at college. He gave me advice on courses to take and made me promise to keep up with my daily running regimen. I learned that he had gone to college on a full athletic scholarship and was an All-American long distance runner. His goal had been to make it to the Olympics and he almost did before he injured his knee when he was hit by a car while riding his bike. He was 24 and even though he was on 6 years older than I was, I felt just from talking to him that he really understood what it was to be my age and he understood what I was going through. He told me that he had only come out 4 years ago and luckily most of his friends and family were accepting of him and his lifestyle. He was not out at work though and he made me promise that I would keep his secret. I agreed, telling him that I myself had not come out to anyone and wasn't ready to make any sort of public declaration of my sexuality. We agreed to keep in contact once I had left for college and along with Debbie, Mikey, Claire and my Mom, Greg was the only other friendly face in the crowd cheering for me as I graduated from high school and prepared to begin my foray into the world of adulthood.

**A/N: Please take a few minutes to review the story and let me know what you thought of it! Thanks!**


	7. Insatiable Appetites

The Tale Of The Unapologetic & The Blatant

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Summary: Brian Kinney has it all; he's young, beautiful, talented and successful. He's a Senior Partner at Vangard Advertising, the top advertising agency in Pittsburgh and the heir apparent to the Managing Partner. Will the mysterious new arrivals change everything he thought he knew? Story contains OFC and OMC.

BPOV

After reminiscing about my less than stellar upbringing at Casa de Kinney, I needed something cheerful to prevent me from sinking into a mild bout of depression. After channel surfing for a few minutes, I got up and started to pace restlessly around the loft before deciding on exactly what I needed to really lift my spirits. Yep, I could do with a good meal; I'll just have to order in. I walked over to my laptop and navigated to my favorite restaurant to peruse their menu.

After making my selection and placing my order, I took a shower, threw on my favorite pair of soft, worn, fitted jeans and waited for my order to arrive. After a short while, the buzzer sounded and I hit the button to release and unlock the front door. I heard the elevator open and close and I watched from the doorway as the cage ascended into view. When the door opened, the sight that greeted me made my cock throb. Our eyes locked as he walked towards me and I stepped aside for him to enter the loft. As I closed the door I thought that his picture on the website really hadn't done him justice. He was almost as tall as I was, with dark hair and gray eyes, a long thin nose and full lips. He was solidly built (I could see that more clearly now as he had already doffed his shirt) and his muscles rippled as he bent over to remove his shoes and socks. He turned to me and I let my eyes roam over his chest and down the flat stomach following his happy trail to…hmmm, hello, I see I wasn't the only one who was eager. I arched my eyebrow and he slowly and deliberately walked over to stand before me. God, I loved having that fucking power, to just give a man a look and have him _come to me._ It is _good _to be Brian Fucking Kinney! He leaned in and nuzzled my neck and then licked it. Soon he was licking my chest, pausing to graze my nipples with his teeth while palming me through my jeans. I could practically hear the inner-workings of his mind as he thought about how big I would be when I was fully erect. This made me think of Dani and her 'super-power' and I had to stifle the snicker that was threatening to escape me. Nothing like thinking about a dyke to kill a fag's fucking boner!

I was getting impatient so I grabbed Sebastian's (in my head _they're all_ named Sebastian) hair and pulled him back to my face, attacking his lips with my own, biting his bottom lip to gain access to his mouth. He moaned as our tongues tangled, his hands undoing my jeans and freeing my cock. I stepped back and finished shucking my jeans and watched as he did the same. His cock was a work of art, about 7.5 inches long, thick and veiny with a head that was a dead-ringer for a toadstool. We stepped into each other and when our cocks touched, we both moaned.

I backed up and leaned on the support column in the middle of the living area, spread my feet and stretched my arms above me to brace myself. This pose said everything that needed to be said in this situation, 'Here I am, the feast that is Brian Kinney, ready for you to partake' (Was that over the top? Yes? Well fuck you! I am Brian Fucking Kinney and I know that I am every gay man's fantasy buffet). Sebastian knelt before me and took me in his hand gauging my length and girth and enjoying the feel and the sight of my cock. He leaned in and slowly licked the weeping head and then looked at me while savoring the first taste of my pre-cum. He licked his lips and then opened his mouth and began to take me in. This has always been my second most favorite thing about fucking; watching my cock being taken into the mouth of a hot young stud. The first of course is watching my cock sink into the delectable ass of some hot young stud. I watched as those lips and that hot mouth slowly engulfed my cock. I hissed as I felt my head hit the back of his throat and then moaned when he swallowed around me. Fuck, this Sebastian had a very talented mouth; I was impressed and it took a lot to impress me. Soon, his nose was buried in the hair at my base, his hands were holding onto my hips and then he started to hum. The vibrations on my shaft caused me to buck into his mouth, propelling me further down his throat. I started moving against him now and he took the hint, releasing me almost to the tip before deep-throating me. He repeated this motion increasing the suction on my cock until I was moaning continually, my hands buried in his hair as I fucked his mouth unmercifully. Yes, very talented indeed, this Sebastian. I felt his hand lightly juggling my balls and then stroking my perineum. I felt my balls draw up in that tell-tale sign and I gave him the courtesy tap on the head to let him know that I was about to erupt. I thrust twice more and on the last one I went further down his throat than ever and roared as I exploded. I watched as Sebastian, his eyes still looking up at me, swallowed and continued to suck on my now softening cock, ensuring that he got every drop of cum that I had given him.

I leaned back heavily against the column, my breath ragged, but my body sated and slack from the orgasm it had just experienced. I watched as Sebastian rose to his full height and licked his lips and swallowed ensuring that there was not a drop of me that had escaped him. I reached for him and dragged my fingers down from his neck, past his pecs and abs and then to his cock; he was fully erect and he was ready to go. I clasped my hand around him and then turned and began leading him, by the cock, to my bedroom. This bedroom was famous (and infamous) in Pittsburgh; it was referred to in reverence by many names 'The Lion's Den', 'The Passion Pitt' or 'The Devil's Lair'. However, the best name by far that I had heard was 'The Den Of Iniquity'. It truly was an apt name, I mean, on any given night there might be what a lot of people may describe as depravity or wickedness happening here. Hell, if there wasn't that would mean that I had either lost my mojo, or was dead. Of the two options, I didn't know which would be worse.

I motioned for Sebastian to lie in the middle of the bed and then settled between his legs. I leaned over and took the bottle of lube and a condom out of the nightstand and put them within easy reach at the side of the bed. I began slowly stroking his cock, twisting and tightening the grip of my palm as I neared the head. I felt him harden from my ministrations, the increased pre-cum served as a natural lubricant and I increased the speed and pressure of my movements. I flattened my body against the bed and leaned in and licked his puckered hole and reveled in the hiss of pleasure it elicited. I tongued his entrance, poking the tip of my tongue past the ring before retracting it and swirling it around the sensitive entrance once more. I repeated this until Sebastian was writhing and I looked down at my own cock and I was hard and ready again. I reached for the condom and soon I was sheathed and coated in lube. I used the residual lube on my fingers to prepare Sebastian's entrance, slipping first one and then two fingers inside him. I watched as he pushed his legs further apart and planted his feet on the bed using the leverage to push up and then down onto my fingers impaling himself. I scissored my fingers inside him, opening him, preparing him for what was to come. He moaned and moved against my hand as I slipped another finger inside him. He was tight; I knew that he was going to be a good fuck. I tapped him on the thigh, indicating that I wanted him to roll over. I never fuck anyone on their back facing me. I don't need to look deep into their eyes or their souls or all of the other romantic, emotional lovey-dovey crap that the breeders 'in love' talk about. Besides, I don't believe in love, I believe in fucking. I looked down and the sight of Sebastian's tight juicy, pert, ass high in the air for me practically makes my mouth water. I position my cock at his entrance and ease myself inside him past his tight rings. I moaned as I watch myself disappear inside him, he is so fucking tight! With one strong thrust, I am seated fully within him, buried to the hilt; the flesh of my groin melded to the firm flesh of his ass, my chest lying flat against his back. I took a moment to savor the exquisite feeling of being buried inside this man's ass. There is no better feeling in the world for me. It is the zenith of pleasure for me. Slowly I withdrew from him until only the tip remains unexposed and then I slam back into him. We both grunt at the sensation. I stilled and then he bucks up towards me, letting me know that he wants all that I have to give. I acquiesced and set a brutal rhythm, thrusting in and withdrawing almost completely before going deep with every stroke. He lifted his ass up to me meeting my every stroke and I pulled him up by the hair onto all fours while I pound into him grunting at the effort. The new position changed the angle of penetration of my cock and I felt as my head passes over his prostrate. Sebastian's body arched and I felt his channel contract around me and he roared in pleasure as his orgasm hit him. The feeling of him tightening around me triggered my own release and with one final thrust I came deep within him throwing my head back and bellowing. Sebastian collapsed onto the bed lax from his release and I collapsed on top of him, my body boneless from my orgasm.

I understand why the French call orgasm 'le petite mort' (the little death) because at this point, my entire body feels dead, weightless and completely out of my control. It is almost as if I have gone from my own body. After a few minutes I lifted myself off of his back, gripped the base of the condom and eased out of him. We both groaned softly at the loss of contact. I stripped the condom off and disposed of it in the trashcan next to the bed, before lying on the bed next to Sebastian. I watched his ass and the muscles in his back rippling as his breathing finally returned to normal. He sat up and smirked at me before leaving the bed and 'The Den Of Iniquity' and walking back into the living room.

I watched as he donned his clothes and then nodded at me. This was always the awkward part for them, they all held out some hope that I would miraculously ask them to spend the night; that they would be the one that 'caught' Brian Kinney. I don't believe in miracles and I don't believe in fucking fairy tales so, I let them know in my own way that that shit was not gonna happen. I turned my back on the flicker of hope I saw in his eyes, walked towards the door and opened it. I watched as Sebastian took a deep breath, squared his shoulders and walked out the door, nodding to me in thanks before he stepped onto the elevator. I turned back into the loft and closed and locked the door. I lived for these silent, anonymous, fulfilling encounters; NSA sex, the only kind there is to have.

I stripped my bed and threw the sheets (which were specifically for fucking on) into the wash and marveled at my 'everything-proof' mattress pad before remaking my bed with my royal blue 1000 thread count cotton sateen sheets. I took a long shower and then donned a pair of black silk lounge pants and went to raid my refrigerator; another type of hunger rising to the forefront now that one had been thoroughly satisfied. I made a chicken Caesar salad and poured myself a glass of grapefruit juice, put my meal on a tray, brought it into the living room and set it on the coffee table. Since I already knew that there was nothing on TV, I turned on my Bang & Olufsen stereo and used the Beo remote to select my CD of choice. Soon the relaxing jazz of Boney James wafted through the loft. I heaved a deep and long sigh. This was all I needed; a good fuck, some good food and good music. I spent the next 30 minutes savoring my meal and relaxing under the mellow ministrations of Boney and that fucking saxophone.

I wasn't sure how long I had been dozing on the couch when I was roused by the beeping of my BB indicating that I had received a text message. When I checked the display I saw that the message was from Dani. Remembering the types of playful, flirty banter we had exchanged on previous occasions, I got comfortable and settled in for a long fun session of 'flexting'.

_D:Hi Ian, what's up?_

_B:Nothing much, I ordered in a meal from my favorite restaurant earlier, now I'm just sitting here enjoying some jazz. _I quickly texted back. What? I wasn't lying, it was the truth!

_D:Hmmm, and how was your server, was he good? _I laughed out loud when I read her response. Trust Ella to get to the crux of things. I decided to kick things into high gear.

_B:Yes, he was gastronomically impressive. _

_D:Was he impressive in other ways?_

_B:Yes. _

_D:Tease! Like?_

_B:He was very impressive at providing suggestions at cleansing palates and handling pepper mills._

_D:Peppermills, huh? _

_B:Well Ella, you've 'seen' my peppermill, is that description inaccurate?_

_D:*Smiley face rolling its eyes* *Smiley face sticking its tongue out*_

_B:Oh there was a lot of that too! *smiley face with huge grin* *Smiley face winking*_

_D:LMAO! Nicely played, sir, nicely played. _

_B: I thoroughly enjoyed my meal and am now completely sated._

_D: Really? Completely? That must be some restaurant._

_B: It's the best; the only one I ever order in from._

_D: That's high praise coming from you. Do they serve seafood? I'm feeling rather peckish myself._

Jesus Fucking Christ, how fucking cool was this chick? Here we were casually chatting about the fact that I ordered a cock on line after perusing a gallery of pictures, he showed up at my door, blew me, I fucked him senseless and he left, the entire encounter happening without a single word being exchanged and Ella wants to know if she can order pussy! For the thousandth time since I have met her I wished that she was a fag; it's almost like we are the same person in two different bodies. If I didn't know better, I would have sworn that she was my long lost twin separated at birth or that we had some sort of cosmic, mystical connection; maybe we were 'spirit twins'! If she were a fag she would make a fuck awesome wing-man!

As much as I wanted to continue flexting with her there was no way that I was going to put the name of this website on record as part of text message history. Everything up to this point was vague and thinly veiled and easily denied should there be scrutiny, but the name of that website would clearly throw off the cloak of innocent flexting. I searched my directory, found her cell number and called. She answered the phone with her low throaty laugh and said,

"I guess you didn't want the name of that restaurant coming up in our text message history at some point, huh?"

"Definitely not!" I chuckled.

I gave her the name of the website and told her that it was a 'by invitation only' service and that I would have to send her a personal invite email. She gave me her personal email address and I went to the laptop, logged back into the site and sent her the email. I knew when she received the email, because she said,

"_Vladimir_?"

"Yes." Was my succinct reply at her obvious curiosity as to the unusualness of my username.

I waited a few minutes as she accepted the invitation and then set up her account. Soon I received an email back from the website thanking me for inviting 'Lola' and that there were pleased that Lola had registered with the site and had made her first reservation. Jesus Christ, this chick was serious!

"Thank you, _Vladimir_." She said and I could tell that she was smirking.

"You're quite welcome, _Lola_, and I do hope you enjoy your first meal." I was smirking big time and I also felt such pride in sharing this with her. Hmm would it be too bad to have a dyke as a wing-ma…person?

We chatted for a short while later before she said that she had to go prepare as her order was going to be arriving soon. I laughed and said,

"Let me guess, you're going to strip your bed of your good sheets and replace them with a set that you only fuck on and then take a quick shower?"

I was met with a few moments of silence and then a shout of laughter before she said, "BING and GO, baby!"

"Well, I'll leave you to it and I hope you enjoy your gastronomic feast." I was smirking again; there was no doubt in my mind that she would be very pleased.

"I am sure that it will sate my voracious hunger, but I'll be sure to let you know." She chuckled

"Voracious, huh? Well then, let me not keep you any longer. Enjoy Ella."

"Thanks Ian and I intend to."

We hung up to the sound of each other's laughter. I shook my head as I set my BB to charge; Ella was one fuck cool chick, even if she was a dyke.

True to her word, a little over an hour later I received a text from Ella:

_Very impressed with my meal, you have great taste in restaurants as well. My appetite is sated…for now. *Smiley face winking*_

I laughed as I read her text; happy that she was satisfied. I marveled at our similarities again; judging by the length of her encounter, I could tell that she obviously wasn't a lingerer either. Yep, NSA sex, the only kind there is to have.

**A/N: Please take a few minutes to review the story and let me know what you thought of it! Thanks!**


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